


Throw Me Away II

by selverya



Series: Of Frost and Fire [3]
Category: The Sims (Video Games)
Genre: Alcohol, Angst, Bad Decisions, Drug Abuse, Drunkenness, Embedded Images, Gaslighting, Ghosts, Multi, Sexual Assault, Sleep Deprivation, Smut, Trauma, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, Unhealthy Relationships, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-19
Updated: 2020-09-01
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:47:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 21
Words: 112,860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25992376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/selverya/pseuds/selverya
Summary: Though the warnings that seemed so urgent thirty years ago have stopped, and the lives of the Ember twins have continued on in relative peace, the threats have not gone anywhere, only lie in wait. When the warnings return, and the twins are once again faced with a threat to magic realm, some things fail to add up and the answers leave more questions than they resolved. Though the Embers fight against a threat that has arisen to take down the All, the source of all magic, it becomes clear over time that what the spellcasters think they know might not be the truth, and the lies that magic realm rests on may be a threat to existence itself.
Relationships: Cassandra Goth/Original Character(s), Morgyn Ember/Caleb Vatore
Series: Of Frost and Fire [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1824940
Comments: 21
Kudos: 2





	1. A Thousand Years

**Author's Note:**

> I lied. Work took less time than I expected. I will deal with the tags later.
> 
> A Thousand Years, Christina Perri  
> This is Drazio’s song.

He didn't expect to end up so exhausted, but in hindsight, Ezio couldn't say why. There were a lot of boxes that had ended up in the lower floor, more for lack of knowing what else to do with them, but everyone was moved into Spire Apartments now. Ezio had to admit, the view really was beautiful.

That morning, the sun had risen over the other side of the city, drowning out the lights and flooding the bay with brightness. Ezio had fallen in love with it the moment he saw it, had even headed out onto the balcony to get a better view, and they could see almost all of San Myshuno from here.

Ezio loved it. He didn't know why he loved the city so much, he just did. For the most part, Ezio didn't question it too hard, because it was easier that way. Some things, he didn't need to understand. Some things he just had to experience.

Most of the apartment was arranged the way they wanted. Ezio had gotten his bedroom set up the way he wanted it earlier that day, coated in books, crystals, and pictures. Lilith had a thing about taking a lot of photographs, and Ezio had gone through some of the albums and pulled a few of the photos out to set on his side table.

Morgyn was such a button-nosed little adorable thing in the eighties and nineties.

Ezio settled down on the floor in the living room, watching the bustling of people below. Uptown was interesting, in that it really kind of was its own little town, just up. Ezio enjoyed that, too. People watching was fun, but dealing with people usually wasn't.

Eventually, he ran a hand through black waves, pulled his glasses off and set them on the floor, and fell over onto his back with a great sigh. He wasn't there for long, before he heard footsteps, and Cassandra laid down next to him.

"Like it?" she asked.

"Yeah," he said. "A lot more than I thought I would."

She smiled at him. "I had a feeling you might like it up here."

"You didn't decide we were moving here because of _me_ , right?" Ezio asked, raising an eyebrow. He should hope not, but it sounded like something she'd do.

"No," she said. "I decided I liked it up here a long time ago, it just works out that you like it too."

"I just like the city," Ezio said. "Not sure why, but ever since I first saw it, I've loved it."

"The lights," Cassandra said softly, reaching over and taking his hand. "It's the lights you fell in love with. With the city all lit up at night, if you don't focus on anything, it almost looks like a sea of stars."

Ah. Now why hadn't _he_ thought of that? Now that she'd said it, he suspected she was quite correct, and the city lights reminded him of the stars. Everyone that knew anything about Ezio knew that he loved the stars.

Ancient cultures the world over all had different explanations for stars. What they were, how they were formed. Ezio's favourite was the belief that they were the spirits of humanity's ancestors. Ezio liked to think that he and Morgyn's parents were up there, somewhere, watching over them.

At least, he liked to think that not too hard, because if he thought about it too hard, it started to get creepy.

"Why do you like it, then?" Ezio asked.

Cassandra smiled. "I like being around people," she said. "I just don't always like talking to them. They're interesting to watch. It's like how light travels faster than sound. People always appear bright, until they open their mouth."

Ezio snorted with laughter.

Cassandra smiled brighter. "Your laugh is beautiful," she said.

Ezio couldn't help the slight embarrassment.

"Sorry," Cassandra said.

"It's fine," Ezio answered. "I just, wasn't really expecting that."

Her hand tightened around his for a moment. Ezio's squeezed a little in response, and for a bit, they just laid there on the floor, watching the clouds through the floor-to-ceiling windows in the apartment. Ezio still wasn't sure how he felt about having windows so large, but he'd get used to it, he was sure.

Curtains might prove to be tricky things.

"How are you and Drake getting along?" Ezio asked, looking over at her.

Cassandra smiled a little. "We don't _hate_ each other," she said, "if that's what you're asking."

"I wasn't worried," Ezio said. Of course he wasn't. He was just asking for posterity. Curiosity reasons, yes.

Cassandra rolled over onto her stomach, scooting closer to him. "We have an understanding," she said, smiling down at him. "Sort of a friendship borne of loving the same person." She leaned down, kissing his cheek, and stood up. "I'm making salad, do you want something?"

Ezio blinked, sitting up. "Wait, you what now?"

"I said what I said," Cassandra said. "Now, salad?"

Oh, she couldn't be serious. Of course, it was really quite rude to dismiss someone's feelings like that, and certainly he wasn't _trying_ to. He just, didn't want her getting too far into this and then realising it was too much.

Whether he was afraid of that for her sake, or his own, that he couldn't say for sure.

"Yeah," he said. "That sounds nice, actually." Maybe this was one of those things that he ought to let happen, and whether things turned out alright or didn't, that would be in some other being's hands. He didn't _like_ leaving it to be what it would be, or at least his anxiety didn't. But neither did he want to hurt her incidentally, or make her feel like he was invalidating her, or trying to tell her what she did or didn't feel.

He didn't know. Maybe the truth was, love was love, and no matter how lasting or not it was, no matter how strong or not it was, none of that made it any more or less love.

"Stay right here then," Cassandra said. "I'll be right back."

"I can get up," he said.

"But you don't have to," she said, practically skipping to the kitchen. Ezio decided to let her go. It seemed to make her happy, and if it made her happy, then maybe that was the important part.

* * *

"There's not even anything _about_ me to _like_!" Ezio said, shuffling back and forth in the kitchen.

Morgyn leaned against one of the counters, stuffing face with a tub of ice cream. Now that they were here in Spire, Morgyn seemed oddly upset about something, and Ezio couldn't say what it was. Of course, he hadn't _asked_ , either, but he wondered if it had anything to do with what Lilith mentioned the other day.

"You're awfully good at lying to yourself, you know that?" Morgyn asked, and then shoved a spoonful of vanilla ice cream into the blond's mouth.

"I don't see how I'm lying to myself here," Ezio said. "It's the truth, and you can't convince me otherwise."

Morgyn snorted. "You're biased," the blond said. "Drake fell in love with you a long time ago, I'm pretty sure he was in love with you from the time you two got to magic realm. You matter to me, of course. I keep trying to find a boyfriend that's kind of like you at least, I think Caleb's in love with you to be honest and that's his problem with me, and now here's Cassandra. You're probably practically a _god_ to her, and _she's_ the one that confuses you? Wow."

Ezio blinked, staring at Morgyn for a moment. Then, he probably looked a little sad. "Well, all of that confuses me," he said. "I just figured dealing with Cassandra first would be easiest. You don't really think Caleb's..." In love with him? Really?

Morgyn had to be off the blond's shit.

"Yep," Morgyn said, practically _throwing_ the spoon into the ice cream. "But it doesn't matter. I won't be the one to tell him that."

Ezio frowned, for a moment, and then shuffled over to lean against the counter beside the blond. "What makes you think that?"

Morgyn shrugged. "Some of the things he says," Morgyn answered. "The way he talks about you, I guess. Maybe I'm just overthinking things but he's avoiding touching me. He apologised for it and he still won't do it, and every time I lean in for a kiss he turns away. He said something about how he doesn't want to be just another guy that wants me, but I don't think that's why. I just don't know what else it could be."

Ezio breathed out, then reached over and took Morgyn's hand before it could pick up the spoon and throw it back into the ice cream. Morgyn loosed a sigh, setting the tub down on the counter.

"I hate this," the blond said. "It hurts."

Ezio frowned slightly, pulling Morgyn over to him and wrapping his arms around the blond. Morgyn's head dropped onto his shoulder.

"Did you tell him that?" Ezio asked.

"No," Morgyn said quietly. "I don't want to deal with it right now. It feels like he thinks I'm tainted or something."

"Why would he think that?" Ezio asked, glancing at blond waves with incredulity.

Morgyn was quiet a moment, and then shrugged. "You know what I do for a living, right?" the blond asked. "I have a hard time believing you don't."

Ezio breathed out, looking up at the dining room wall across the way. "Yeah," he said. "I know. I like to pretend I have no idea, but I know."

"Prostitutes aren't exactly the cleanest in the world, everyone knows that," Morgyn said.

"It's bullshit," Ezio said, almost immediately. "You're not sick, right?"

"No," Morgyn said. "At least, I don't think so."

"You don't know?" Ezio asked.

"University kind of cleaned me out," Morgyn answered. "Haven't had the money for a doctor's visit recently, but I don't feel different."

"Okay," Ezio said. "I'll get something scrounged together so you can go."

"What?" Morgyn backed away, looking up at him. "You don't have to do that."

"I know I don't," Ezio answered. "I want to."

"I was just going to save for a bit longer and then I should have enough," Morgyn said.

"And now you don't have to," Ezio said. "I'm not doing it because I think you can't, Morgyn."

"Ezio, you need that for hospital bills and things like that," Morgyn said.

Ezio released a sigh. "We live together now," he said. "And you're still my twin. Helping you out is kind of part of being related to each other, and then we're living together too. We take care of each other."

Morgyn frowned slightly. Ezio could see it, in the blond's eyes, how little Morgyn liked it.

"You can pay for my prescriptions next time, okay?" Ezio said. "Nice little trade-off."

Morgyn pouted for a moment, but then hugged Ezio. "Okay," the blond said.

"Have you put any thought into finding something else?" Ezio asked.

Morgyn shrugged. "A friend of mine mentioned modelling," the blond said.

Modelling, huh? Come to think of it, Morgyn would probably make a decent one. Ezio didn't really know specifics of how things worked, and he heard things about the industry that suggested it wasn't all smooth sailing, either, but it was a start. At least until the blond was done with university, and could pursue something else, if Morgyn so chose to.

Maybe Morgyn would like modelling.

"I've started looking into getting into it, but I don't think it'll be easy," Morgyn said. "You know, she also said an agency would love to get us both. You could try it with me."

Ezio snorted. "I'm not nearly as charismatic as you are," Ezio said.

"Yeah you are," Morgyn answered. "You've got a calmer demeanour than I do, anyway. It kind of gives you a bad-boy charm."

Ezio sort of stared at Morgyn for a moment. "I'm going to set that on the table, and walk away from it," he said.

Morgyn laughed. "Alright," the blond said. "I'll leave you alone."

The two were quiet, for a long moment. Then, Ezio drew a breath in. "Caleb loves you, you know," he said. "I think maybe he just doesn't really understand, and is afraid of doing or saying the wrong thing. I think he's not sure how to move, so he's not moving at all, because you're too important to him to just wing it and hope for the best."

"It's not like I would want to tell him anything," Morgyn said. "It's best that he _doesn't_ understand. It's not that great."

"I know that and you know that," Ezio said. "But you and I are a little more battle-hardened, for lack of better phrasing. Caleb's never had to deal with anything like this before. He doesn't understand what it's like to have choice taken away from him. To be in a situation where you either survive or you don't."

Morgyn was quiet for a long moment. "I don't know that I can hurt him like that," Morgyn said softly. "I don't know if I can talk about it, either."

"Do you want me to try?" Ezio asked.

"No, it's okay," Morgyn said. "I think I have to fix this one myself. I just... wish he trusted me."

* * *

Cassandra was right. The glittering lights of the city below looked a lot like the stars. Though the light from the city made the stars seem dimmer, they were still visible in the night sky above it, like a huge sphere of sparkling lights.

Ezio really did love it up here, and he'd just hope that everything worked out as well as they thought it would.

As he sat there, in one of the chairs on the balcony, watching the twinkling lights of the city below and the shimmering flickers of light in the sky, someone came outside, and sat down in the chair beside him. He glanced over, and found Caleb watching the lights, too.

Neither one said anything, for a long moment. Ezio was trying not to reach over and _slap_ him, but he knew what Caleb felt wasn't necessarily something to fault him for. The _management_ of what he felt, on the other hand, _that_ could use some work.

"It's beautiful," Caleb eventually said.

Ezio glanced at him again, and then back to the city. "Yeah, it is," he said. "Like having a city full of stars."

"You sure like the stars a lot," Caleb said, looking over at him.

"If everyone spent less time arguing over stupid things and more time looking at the stars," Ezio said, "I think they'd understand a little better. The things down here, sometimes, aren't as big as they seem like they are."

Caleb was quiet for a moment, and then leaned back in his seat, and turned towards the city. "Morgyn told you, huh?" he asked.

"I've been asked not to jump into the middle of this," Ezio said. "And I'd prefer not to. I can get awfully mean when it comes to Morgyn." Frankly, Caleb should know that already, so Ezio wasn't really certain what he was over here barking up this tree for.

"Please," Caleb said. "I could use a little guidance."

Ezio drew a breath in, and released it. "Okay," he said. "But so you know, I'm inherently on Morgyn's side."

"I'm not sure there are sides yet," Caleb said.

Well, maybe not. But when there were, Ezio was on Morgyn's side.

"I got Morgyn a ring, you know," Caleb said. "A long, long time ago. I kept hoping sooner or later Morgyn might look my way, see me as more than a friend, and then it happened. I still want to spend the rest of my life with him."

Ezio's gaze softened. "But...?" he asked. There seemed to be a 'but' there.

Caleb didn't say anything, fidgeting instead, and looking away.

Ah. "Your anxiety," Ezio said. "I should imagine."

"I don't want to be just another guy," Caleb said. "I want more than that."

"Have you told Morgyn that?" Ezio asked.

"I did," Caleb said.

"And what did Morgyn say?" He knew the answer to that, too, but the point wasn't Ezio knowing, it was Caleb talking about it.

"Morgyn said that I can't be," he said. "It made it sound like it didn't matter."

Ah. Of course. Morgyn never did master that particular manner of communication, but Ezio had just accepted it by now. He'd figure Caleb would've too, but then it was possible they'd never had discussions about important things like this, either.

"It doesn't mean it doesn't matter," Ezio said. "It means it doesn't ding Morgyn's radar, that's all. You're worried about it, and that's valid, but Morgyn doesn't see it as a problem. I had to struggle with it, too, still do sometimes. Morgyn sounds dismissive and uncaring at times, but that's just not how the idiot means it. It doesn't make it any less hurtful, and Morgyn ought to work on it, but it does make it a little easier to let go of."

Caleb went quiet, seemingly thinking about it. "I don't think I want to share Morgyn with anyone else," he said.

Ezio released a sigh. "That's something you'll have to tell Morgyn," he said. "But you know, if you're talking about Morgyn's work, it's a little different. You can't really call that sharing. Work is work, and it doesn't mean anything. Morgyn's been trying to get out of it for a few decades by now, at least. Mostly, Morgyn's not had the time to pick up the skills for anything else. Going to university is the best chance Morgyn's got of finally finding something else, but paying for it is something too. You know how I paid for mine?"

"No," Caleb answered, sitting up slightly in curiosity.

"I sold drugs and smuggled for the black market," Ezio said.

Caleb's eyes widened like he'd turned into a hydra.

"Smuggling is easier when you can teleport," Ezio explained. "Were those bad things to do? Sure. But sometimes you're stuck between what's right and what's necessary, and if it's either you or what's right, you're gonna choose you. There are still times when the rent is a little tight and I think, I could fix this easy enough."

Caleb looked a little unsure, looking back out across the city. "I guess I just don't understand why Morgyn still does it."

"Same reason Morgyn started," Ezio said. "And maybe some of the feeling wanted and desired thing. Everyone wants that, of course. Some find it empowering, or at least think they do but that gets into some psychological hub-drub I don't have the credentials for. But the root reason is the same. Morgyn needs money, and that's the easiest way to get it."

Caleb released a sigh, and slid down in his chair.

Ezio shook his head. "Maybe someone else can make it make sense better than I can," he said. "If you're really interested in understanding it, wander around the red light district someday. And while you're out there, maybe ask yourself if it's Morgyn that you love, or just the idea of Morgyn."

* * *

When Ezio came down the stairs, and found Drake sitting on the couch reading a book, it was probably not surprising that Ezio immediately went for him. It wasn't like Ezio had anywhere that was more important to go, and spending some time with Drake sounded nice about now.

Wordlessly, Ezio sat down on the couch, scooted over slightly, and laid down in Drake's lap. He made a slight pleased little sound at the back of his throat, idly running his fingers through Ezio's hair.

Ezio wasn't sure if he'd said the right things to Caleb, but he hoped he'd said enough to get the vampire thinking about it deeper, at least. There were things that one often couldn't quite explain through words. Things that didn't ever really make sense until they were experienced.

Ezio thought this was one of those things, and for everyone's sake, he hoped Caleb's experience with it wasn't gained because something terrible happened to Morgyn. Or Ezio was probably going to go to jail on manslaughter charges and there goes his career. Worth it.

"I don't know what to do with all this _space_ suddenly," Ezio said, grey eyes looking out the windows.

Drake snorted. "Yeah, I can't say I know either," he said. "We have a _gym_ in the lower floor."

"Come to think of it, has Lilith come _out_ of it?" Ezio didn't think so, but he may have just missed it.

"Don't think so, no," Drake said. "She'll uh, eventually have to take a shower, I presume."

Ezio loosed a smothered laugh. "Probably. We'll only see her when she needs to take a shower or feed, I guess."

"She still has classes, too," Drake said.

"Ah, or she needs to go to class, that's true," Ezio answered. "How are you doing?"

Drake paused slightly amid petting Ezio's hair, and then went back to it and smiled. "I'm doing okay," he said. "You're still here, nothing's gone terribly wrong. I can't complain."

Ezio kind of wished he _would_ complain a little. A lot of the time, Ezio could figure out what Drake was thinking, and what he needed and wanted, just by watching him for a while. He had ways of telling the spellcaster what was on his mind without using words, or maybe Ezio had just gotten good at understanding it. Maybe it was a combination of both things.

But it'd be nice, once in a while, to have the verbal confirmation.

Ezio looked up at Drake, smiling. "I miss your hair," he said.

"It'll grow back," Drake answered.

"Yeah," Ezio said, "I know. And with any luck, your publishers won't ask you to cut it off again. Or if they do, you'll tell them no this time. You don't even do a lot of publicity anyway."

Drake loosed a snort. "I know," he said. "But they were right, and my public image is working a little better now that my hair's less frizzy."

"Or we could just quit reinforcing the stereotype that only men with short, straight hair are capable of being professional, because of course professionalism lives in your hair, and all," Ezio said, rolling his eyes.

Drake smiled. "I'm out to get paid, Ezio," he said. "Not to change the world."

"Could do _both_ ," Ezio grumbled.

Drake ignored his grumbling, and it was probably for the best.

Ezio went quiet, snuggling down a little against Drake's leg, watching the lights in the adjacent towers in Uptown turn on. His personal little stars, they were, it felt like. The stars that only lit up for him.

Ha. Yeah right.

"Hey," he said, looking up at Drake again. "Do you want to do something later tonight? With me? Alone?"

Drake raised an eyebrow. "That sounds nice," he said. "But what? Anything in particular in mind?"

Oh, Ezio had a few ideas. But, as he shuffled through those ideas in his head, one particular one stuck out. He'd tried it before, of course, and it hadn't turned out terribly well.

Ezio did wonder how it'd go with Drake, instead. And strangely, Ezio wasn't afraid of it ending terribly like it had before. Sometimes, he wondered when he'd come to trust Drake with so much of him.

Probably, back at France, when Ezio had fallen in love with him.

"I have a few ideas," he said. "Just dress up in a few hours, and come out onto the balcony, okay?"

"Okay," Drake said.

Ezio sat up, taking hold of Drake's jaw and kissing him, and then scurried off to the kitchen.

* * *

"Don't set yourself on _fire_ ," Ezio said, picking Mayor Whiskers up off the table and setting him on the balcony floor. Everything was almost perfect, he thought. The table was set, the candle was lit, the music was playing very softly, Ezio had gotten dressed...

He was wearing the grey mermaid dress Morgyn had shoved him into that one day. It did look very good on him, he had to admit, and certainly Drake seemed to like him in it. And he'd made dinner, something simple, Drake's was made with plasma fruit in, of course, done his makeup and everything.

And Mayor Whiskers was trying to help set the table. (It was more likely that the cat was interested in the _fish_ , not helping with anything.)

He told himself it didn't matter, that Drake _wouldn't_ do the same thing Jackson did, but as time went on, and set up got closer to being done, Ezio became more and more nervous. Now, his mind was whirring a thousand miles a second, trying to think up _any_ other excuse he could come up with to decide he wasn't ready yet. Maybe _he_ wasn't ready. Maybe this was too early.

Ezio debated changing his mind and calling this one off, but, as the idea bounce around in his head, the door to the balcony opened, and Drake stepped out.

Ezio's heart almost leapt into his throat, as he turned around, his hands unconsciously smoothing the dress down.

Drake took a deep breath in, smiled, and crossed over to him. His arms wrapped loosely around Ezio's waist, and he gently kissed Ezio's forehead. "Hi," he said.

"Hi," Ezio answered. And somehow, just that one word managed to soothe away Ezio's fraying nerves. "It's done, you're just in time."

"Smells good," Drake said, letting Ezio go to shuffle around and have a seat. Incidentally, he sat down on the side that had the plasma fruit dish. He could probably smell it.

Ezio shuffled around the other side, and sat down, too. "It's not too much, is it?" Ezio asked.

"No," Drake answered, already eating. "I think you got this seared better than I normally do. You'll have to show me how you did it."

"I didn't do anything special," Ezio said, smiling slightly and trying to relax a bit. "You and Cassandra are getting along okay, right?"

"Don't worry about me and Cassandra," Drake said. "We understand each other."

Ezio couldn't help it. Most people didn't decide they wanted a boyfriend _and_ a girlfriend, of course, and Ezio wasn't sure what that said about him. But he had this problem before. Every time he found someone he wanted to date, there was usually someone else, at some point, that he wanted to date, too.

It was something wrong with him. Strange that Drake and Cassandra didn't seem to think it was. He wanted to wonder why, and at the same time, he was afraid to.

Drake's eyes fell to the scars on his arm, for a moment, and then looked out towards the city. Ezio tried not to think about it too hard. He didn't generally like others catching sight of those. He still had a number of them, some had faded, some never had, and some were newer.

Drake knew most of the little marks that were still scattered across his skin. That was the only reason he was brave enough to even _wear_ this dress around him.

"I just want you to be happy," Drake said, eventually. "And if you're happy with us both, then, you're happy with us both."

Ezio frowned a little, taking a drink of his fizzy juice, and then setting it back down. "I don't want either of you to be upset about it, that's all," Ezio said. "I don't want to hurt you."

Drake smiled, reaching across the table and taking Ezio's hand. "I think that's why it doesn't hurt."

That almost didn't make any sense, but then Ezio thought about it, and it made sense. He smiled a bit, going back to his meal.

"Caleb may eventually talk to you," Ezio said.

"Oh?" Drake asked. "Why?"

Ezio shrugged. "He's having some trouble parsing his own feelings I think. Something about Morgyn's vocation."

Drake nodded. "I see. I'll try to help, at least."

"I did, too," Ezio said. "I'm not sure how much of it made sense."

They went quiet, for a moment. Then, Ezio noticed movement out of the corner of his eye, and glanced over. Lilith and Morgyn ducked behind the chair, as if Ezio hadn't already seen them.

Ezio's eyes narrowed, and then he raised a hand and frosted the glass.

Drake almost burst into laughter, smothering it at the last second.

"They're so _nosy_ ," Ezio said with a sigh.

"They mean well," Drake said.

"Yeah, their meaning well is still annoying," Ezio answered, casting another glare at the large glass pane.

As they talked, and nothing seemed any different from any other time, Ezio's nerves started to relax. Soon enough, it felt like any other time they'd sat down together for a meal incidentally, and Ezio wondered if maybe they'd always been dating, in a sense.

Certainly, there'd never been a time Ezio could imagine doing a lot of things alone and without Drake. Ezio had heard somewhere that love itself was what was left over when being in love had burned away. It seemed, for him and Drake, being in love was long gone, and they'd become so closely entwined that they couldn't separate without breaking parts of themselves to do so.

They'd been one for so long, neither could remember ever being two.

Ezio smiled slightly, watching the city lights twinkle in the vague haze. "I think I figured out why I like the city," he said.

"Did you?" Drake asked. "Why?"

"The lights," he said. "They remind me of the stars."

Drake thought about it for a moment. "That makes sense to me, yeah."

Ezio smiled a bit brighter, and then reached across the table, now clear thanks to a spell or two, and took Drake's hands in his. "Thank you," he said.

"For what?" Drake asked.

"For loving me even when I don't make it easy," Ezio answered.

Drake didn't say anything, simply raised Ezio's hands and kissed the back of them. Then, he stood up, gently tugging on Ezio's hands to indicate he wanted Ezio to stand up, too.

Ezio looked confused, but he did stand, and then followed Drake's tugging him around the table and over to the side. And he didn't have to think about it, as one of Drake's hands set Ezio's on his shoulder, and then rested against the small of his back.

The music was barely audible, at least to Ezio, but they slowly moved around in a circle together all the same. Ezio smiled, turning down to the floor, and then laid his head against Drake's shoulder.

"I'll always love you," Drake said, softly. "And I'll love you even more when it's hard to, because that's when you need me to love you the most."


	2. Time Has Passed You By

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one hurts a little. But believe it or not, this is actually progress.
> 
> For the record, I did not plan all this relationship drama, I don’t know where in the fuck it came from, Caleb just threw a wrench in everything and here we are. I’m trying to fix it but he’s being a drama llama. Sigh.
> 
> In other news, I wonder sometimes how Morgyn ends up liking Liberty so much and then she does this and I understand. This is a very consistent trend she has.
> 
> Forgiven, Within Temptation

With so many of them living in Spire now, and the weird tension between Morgyn and Caleb anymore, it was much easier to focus on schoolwork anywhere _but_ at home. That was how Morgyn had ended up sitting at a table in Laurel Library, trying to focus on science but mostly thinking unwillingly about Caleb.

Things weren't too strained between them yet. Morgyn had thus far had decent success pretending there was nothing wrong, and Caleb seemed to have decided to follow suit. Truth be told, Morgyn wasn't sure if that was what the blond wanted, but it wasn't like Morgyn had any idea what to tell him, maybe any more than he knew what to say either.

Avoiding it wasn't going to solve anything, of course. But it was nice, for things to be okay just a little longer. It did beg the question, at least internally, of whether or not it was a good thing in the longer run. Morgyn didn't know what was right, here. Caleb was the first person Morgyn had ever really dated, and given Caleb had known about Morgyn being a whore for literally ever, it was hard to imagine _this_ , of _all the things_ , was going to turn out to be their undoing.

Why did he even start this if he was just going to change his mind later? Maybe that was the most confusing, and hurtful, part. Morgyn didn't get it. Maybe the blond wasn't supposed to.

Eventually, Morgyn slid down against the table, twisting a pencil against the notebook idly, and thinking probably way too much about what to do with Caleb. Morgyn _probably_ should've dated a little before Caleb, so that _maybe_ the blond would know what to do here, but of course, there was always the risk of getting someone that wasn't interested in the dating part, just the free sex part.

What did those types think, anyway, Morgyn was born yesterday? Sheesh. Being pretty didn't automatically mean you were stupid. But of course, the Embers liked to break stereotypes. Morgyn was pretty _and_ intelligent, and Ezio had brains _and_ brawn.

The chair beside the blond pulled out, and Liberty sat down in it. Morgyn's head raised to look at her, smile slightly, and then flop back down onto the blond's arm.

Liberty loosed an amused sound. "Thinking too hard?" she asked.

"Kind of yes," Morgyn said, "and kind of no. Boyfriend troubles mostly."

Liberty smiled. "Yeah, I didn't think you were single," she said. "Anything I can help with?"

"Probably not," Morgyn answered. "But thanks for asking. I have a term paper to write anyway and I live with way too many people, so it's easier to think over here. Or it's supposed to be."

"I don't know," Liberty said, "looks like you're having plenty of luck doing the thinking thing, just, maybe not about what you intended is all."

"Yeah," Morgyn said. "It's something like that. What are you up to?"

Liberty shrugged. "I was going to go home, just got my presentation done, but I saw you and thought I'd come say hi. You either need a hug or a fifth of vodka, and I'm not sure which one it is."

"Both, I think," Morgyn answered.

"Well, I can help with one of those," Liberty said, sitting up and holding her arms out.

The thing that struck Morgyn the most wasn't the offer itself. It was that she didn't just _hug_ the blond, despite being in range of it. It was strange. One of the few people that didn't just take liberties with Morgyn's body was named Liberty.

Morgyn smiled slightly, and sat up enough to fall onto her.

"Oof," Liberty said. "You like food, don't you?"

"Are you calling me fat?" Morgyn asked.

"Nope," Liberty answered. "I'm just saying you seem to like food. Nothing wrong with that."

"I do have a weird love affair with cheesecake and ice cream," Morgyn said, sitting up onto the blond's chair properly again.

"Oh, I love cheesecake," Liberty said. "Specifically, cherry. Strawberry isn't bad but it's not my favourite. And I love chocolate, even though it tends to make me break out."

"It's probably the sugar," Morgyn said. "Should try darker chocolate with a lower sugar content. It's a little bitter, but _good_ dark chocolate is amazing. Ever tried a French silk pie?"

Liberty shook her head.

"Oh, boy," Morgyn said. "Someday, I'll have to get you one. It's a chocolate lover's heaven, Oreo crust with chocolate filling, topped with whipped cream and chocolate shavings."

"Oh wow I think I got turned on a little," Liberty said.

Morgyn laughed. "I wasn't even trying that time," Morgyn said.

Liberty raised an eyebrow. "You've tried before?" she asked.

"No," Morgyn said. "Not with you anyway." Well, it was looking like Morgyn was about to be pretty single, so maybe someday that'd change. But every time Morgyn and Liberty talked like this, the blond couldn't help but remember that once, Caleb was this easy to talk to.

But sometimes, things changed.

Liberty shook her head, glancing down at the table. As she moved closer to the lamp sitting on the wood, it suddenly shot electrical sparks and Liberty jumped back away from it with a yelp, only to crash to the floor.

Morgyn startled, sliding off the blond's chair and onto the floor. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Liberty answered, sitting up. "Just being my usual clumsy self, you know."

Morgyn wasn't so sure about that. The blond glanced up at the lamp. The bulb had gone out, and that was either a really freak electrical problem, or maybe, Liberty had just done magic.

Liberty sat up on the floor, and shook her head. "I'm getting used to this," she said.

Morgyn looked back at her, and raised an eyebrow. "Used to this?" the blond repeated. "This happens a lot?"

Liberty nodded. "Yeah, happens at home all the time," she said. "Something's up with our wiring, the electrical stuff's always going out, bulbs constantly burning out early, the circuit breaker keeps tripping, it's really weird."

Yeah, she was doing magic. Morgyn frowned for a moment, thinking.

"What school are you in, anyway, chinko?" one of the students at the other table asked.

"Yeah," another said, "this is the _Britechester_ side."

Morgyn sighed, standing and gathering up the blond's books. "She goes to the Academy of Minding Your Own Business, you may want to look into enrolment yourself," Morgyn said, taking the blond's books, reaching down and pulling Liberty to her feet, and heading towards the door.

"Lobster lover!" one of them called after them.

Morgyn made a face, turning to the side slightly as they headed out the door and jerking a hand to one side.

That particular student suddenly lost his balance somehow and fell out of his chair. The others howled with laughter, and Morgyn pulled Liberty out the door.

"What was that about?" Liberty asked.

Morgyn shrugged. "The Foxbury students and the UBrite students have separated Laurel Library in two," the blond said. "One side is 'lobster' side, and the other is 'dragon' side. It's stupid. You were on dragon side."

"Oh," Liberty answered. "I'm... never going to remember that."

"Frankly, I barely do," Morgyn said. "I've ended up on lobster side a few times on accident already." Morgyn was perfectly capable of managing it, though. After a few years on the street, school rivalries were like walks in the park at sunset, and of course, Morgyn had a few years racked up altogether by now.

Ezio's were more persistent and consistent, but Morgyn wasn't a stranger to them either. Or sin. Sin was a very common friend too.

Morgyn was a _terrible_ Christian.

"Strange question I guess," Morgyn said, looking over at Liberty, "but who are your parents?"

Liberty blinked, and shrugged. "Trinity and Zane," she said. "The Lee comes from my mother, her parents were Guiren and Hualan."

Morgyn breathed out. She wasn't as blooded out as Morgyn had been hoping, for her own sake, but it could be worked around. Li Guiren. He was the one that was the head of the family, when magic realm was built, and was a lot older than Liberty probably thought he was.

"Another strange question," Morgyn said, "when did the electrical issues start?"

Liberty raised an eyebrow, and then looked thoughtful. "Well, I think the first one was about two days after yeye's funeral."

So Guiren bound her magic, and now that he was gone, it was coming undone. Morgyn debated telling her. But as the blond looked over at her, saw the soft little smile on her face, watched her different coloured eyes turn up towards the clouds, Morgyn didn't know if the blond could ruin that moment.

Later. Morgyn would tell her later.

* * *

"We have a problem," Morgyn said, scurrying into the living room at Spire and dropping the blond's book bag onto the floor.

Ezio looked up from the couch, lying in Cassandra's lap and reading a book. "What problem?" he asked.

Cassandra looked interested, but she stayed quiet, drawing the skyline in her sketchbook against the couch arm.

"Hi Cassie," Morgyn said, and then picked up Ezio's legs, sat down on the couch, and dropped his legs onto Morgyn's. "Well, I have a new friend."

"Congratulations?" Ezio said. "Not sure how that's a problem."

"No," Morgyn said, "the problem isn't the friend herself, the problem is, she is one of the five families."

"Like me?" Cassandra asked.

"Yep," Morgyn said. "And also not, because you have blood from like three of the five families and she only has blood from one I think, but anyway. Now we have two of you. ... four, I guess, you both have siblings."

"So what's the problem?" Ezio asked.

"Oh, right, I think there's someone out there doing something they shouldn't be," Morgyn said. "You know between the vampire messing with your head, and then attacking us that one day and all. Those of the five families are stronger than even I can be."

Ezio raised an eyebrow.

"... okay maybe not stronger than you, but at any rate, her magic was bound by her grandfather, Li Guiren, and now he's dead, and I can't stop it from unbinding," Morgyn said.

Ezio glanced up at Cassandra. Then, looked back at Morgyn. "And so we have a fledgling spellcaster that is probably stronger than she knows what to do with that is also kind of a walking giant target."

"Exactly," Morgyn said. "We have a problem." Because, of course, the normal problems they had just by being alive and living, those problems weren't enough. They also needed unravelling magical bindings and psychotic vampires!

There was a _reason_ Morgyn had left magic realm, good fucking god. Maybe Morgyn needed to go pray or something, fuck.

"What are we going to do about it?" Ezio asked.

Morgyn released a breath. "I'd _like_ to just rebind her magic," Morgyn said. "I don't think right now is a good time for one of the five families to be known about suddenly, especially if our little vampire friend _is_ after the All like we think."

Ezio shook his head. "You can't make that decision for her."

"I know I can't," Morgyn said. "Or at least I _shouldn't_. Which brings me to the only other thing I can possibly do, which is take out this vampire before goes after her. With one of the five families, the All's barrier will easily fall, and we don't want that. At least if she tries to break it herself she'll just fizzle out and die on it."

Ezio looked up at the ceiling. "Well, theoretically," he said. "We don't actually know what'll happen because no one's ever gotten that far."

Morgyn loosed a grunt. "I guess that's true enough."

"She does seem to have some interest in you," Ezio said. "I think maybe the only thing we can do in this situation short of turning into vampire hunters or binding this girl's magic again without her permission is to hope that you remain so interesting she doesn't notice this girl."

Morgyn didn't _like_ that. There was absolutely no guarantee this vampire wasn't going to sense this, because it was entirely possible that she was waiting for something like this, one of the five families to suddenly end up on her radar. A sage was a lot less interesting than a five families member, and Morgyn knew it.

"Unless," Ezio said, "of course, you wanted to start teaching her magic. You'd have to try and make it quick, but you could probably get her decently skilled at it. At least, enough that she can fight this vampire off long enough for one of us to intervene. But the sooner you start, the better."

The blond released a breath. "Inevitably, I'd have to flip her world upside down," Morgyn said.

"Yep," Ezio said. "And I suggest it be soon."

Morgyn didn't really like that _either_. People reacted to having something like magic in many different ways. Some were excited about it, some were angry, some were in a state of disbelieving shock, others started out one way and then went another later.

Liberty could hate the blond for this. There'd be a lot of risk that went into this, but neither could Morgyn leave her completely defenceless.

"You're probably right," Morgyn said, sighing again.

"You sound sad about it," Cassandra said, sounding confused.

Ezio looked up at her. "Sometimes, people don't take the magic thing very well."

"Oh," Cassandra said, glancing down at the floor. "I think it'll be okay."

Morgyn snorted. "You're more optimistic than I am," he said. "This one wants to be a fucking _astronaut_."

Of course, magic had a science, and science was magic in a sense. Maybe all Morgyn had to do was present it the right way, and she'd take it better than most. So far, at least, Liberty had been fairly easy-going about most things.

Morgyn could only hope this turned out to be one of those things.

Ezio cleared his throat. "Have you spoken to Caleb recently?" he asked.

Morgyn looked up at him, and then back down at the floor. "No," the blond answered.

Ezio tilted his head. "He's on the lower floor," he said.

For a moment, Morgyn stared at the floor, and then looked out the window.

"Go talk to him," Ezio said. "Nothing's going to get solved if you don't do anything, Morgyn."

Morgyn knew that. And also knew that, as long as Morgyn didn't make any moves, and neither did Caleb, nothing would get _worse_ , either.

* * *

The music was audible not even partway down the stairs. Morgyn paused, about halfway down them, listening. Caleb was strangely touchy about his music, and generally speaking, wouldn't play if he knew there were others close by that might hear.

Morgyn loved his music. There were times when it hurt to listen to, but there were times when Caleb hurt, too, and by now, Morgyn considered the two related, and inevitable. As the blond listened, it picked up speed, and pretty soon, Morgyn was relatively sure Caleb was going to break the piano.

Then, it stopped, and slowed down again. Morgyn shuffled down the stairs the rest of the way. Standing here listening to him play, while enjoyable, wasn't going to get this conversation going, though Morgyn still didn't really want to have it. Maybe things were better off left the way they were. They were still talking. Everything was fine.

Morgyn didn't want to lose him. Maybe only Ezio meant more to the blond than Caleb did. Maybe they meant so much to each other, they were making all the wrong decisions.

Quietly, not that the blond needed to be quiet with how loudly Caleb was banging the keys, Morgyn shuffled just slightly into the small music room they had at the lower floor by the stairs. As he played, Morgyn just stood there, listening, hoping that he wouldn't notice Morgyn was there and stop.

Only moments after Morgyn thought that, Caleb abruptly took his hands off the piano.

"Don't stop," Morgyn said. "Please."

"It's not good enough to listen to yet," Caleb said quietly.

Morgyn frowned. "Caleb, it was _beautiful_." The blond wasn't just saying that. This was another of his insecurity issues, Morgyn was sure. Caleb sure had a lot of those, a lot of self-doubts and worries, anxiety that didn't make any sense.

The blond wasn't stupid enough to think that somehow, Morgyn could make all that go away. It'd always be there, maybe, as long as Caleb lived. But Morgyn had always hoped that someday, Caleb would be okay bringing those anxieties and insecurities to Morgyn.

Now they were here, instead.

"It's not good enough," Caleb repeated.

Morgyn's eyes narrowed in sadness, but the blond didn't argue again. Instead, Morgyn shuffled over to the piano, sitting down at the bench beside Caleb. Caleb almost immediately scooted away from Morgyn a little. The blond tried not to let the hurt show.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Morgyn asked.

"I don't know what to say," Caleb said. "You're not really into music anyway."

Morgyn blinked, and then the blond's head shook. "No, I meant, about _us_."

Caleb released a breath. "I don't know what to say about that, either," he said.

"Just start somewhere," Morgyn said. "Caleb, I don't want to lose you. But if you're not happy with me, then I don't want you to be miserable, either."

"It's not like I'm unhappy," Caleb said.

"Isn't it?" Morgyn asked. "You just scooted _away_ from me."

"No, I didn't," Caleb said.

Morgyn frowned. "Okay," the blond said. "No you didn't." Denying it didn't make it so that it didn't happen, but if it made Caleb feel better to pretend otherwise, Morgyn supposed there was no real harm in it. "There's still a lot to suggest that you're unhappy." He hadn't even asked Morgyn out in a while. Granted, they'd all been busy with the move.

"I'm just, trying to understand," Caleb said.

"Understand what?" Morgyn asked.

"Why you still do the work you do," Caleb answered.

Morgyn breathed out. It wasn't like Morgyn went out every night and fucked somebody, so it wasn't even as frequent as Caleb seemed to think it was. Most people had that misconception, but it started to hurt after a while. Never mind Morgyn shouldn't be that drunk that frequently.

Anymore, Morgyn was always high as a kite or drunk as hell, because Morgyn couldn't do it any other way.

"University isn't cheap," Morgyn said. "I had to buy the textbooks, too, because I don't know enough of the material. A lot of what I think I know is wrong, so I'm going into this worse than blind. I still needed to eat and sleep somewhere. Even if I tried to live on potions, I'd still need the ingredients for it, and eventually you crash from those.

"I have no marketable skills, I don't have the time to learn any, Ezio didn't have the financial capability of supporting me and I wasn't going to ask. He'd have done it if I did, but that's not the point. What else was I supposed to do? Now we live in a seven thousand a week apartment and more than half of us are in university. But the nice thing about the menfolk, they like pretty things, and I do happen to be one of those."

And, to make matters worse, perhaps, this particular degree, Morgyn wasn't pursuing it for the sake of a job. The hope of saving Ezio's life _probably_ wasn't going to pay the bills, and Morgyn had little interest in becoming a doctor. Unless Morgyn suddenly managed to score a modelling career practically overnight, the whore was staying a whore.

"I've always heard it was a terrible thing to get stuck doing," Caleb said. "You just don't seem bothered by it."

Morgyn's expression flattened. "Do you really want me to be a complete wreck constantly?" the blond asked. "Because that seems like a bit too much for you to handle."

Caleb thought about it. "Yeah, I guess you're right," he said. "It's really that terrible?"

"If I had a choice, I wouldn't have chosen this," Morgyn said. "But I didn't."

"How long have you been at this?" Caleb asked.

"Since the 1800's, at least," Morgyn said. "I've probably been doing this longer than I've known you."

"You were in magic realm back then," Caleb said. "It can't have been _that_ bad."

Morgyn's head shook, the blond turning down to face the piano keys. "It was complicated," Morgyn said. "Ezio had just developed his heart condition. It was milder then, but he was in no condition to be doing anything particularly strenuous, and the only real jobs back then were manual labour. Scholarly pursuits were out, too, because he wasn't very well educated either.

"Drake could handle manual labour fine enough, but he wasn't yet immune to sunlight. The sun in magic realm didn't hurt him. He started writing books, but it was difficult back then because he had to be careful when he went out of magic realm and it took some time before he got any sort of name to speak of." It was a bit more complicated than it sounded.

Caleb frowned. "Aine had a decent bit of money," he said. "She didn't help?"

Morgyn glanced up at Caleb, and then looked back down at the keys. "She had other things to worry about." Despite saying that, Morgyn occasionally wondered. The blond was afraid of wondering too hard. Morgyn still wanted to believe the best in her.

She was gone, anyway. She probably didn't even have anything to do with this, it was probably simply that Morgyn really wanted her to be involved, just to have some kind of closure.

"Are you going to stop?" Caleb asked.

Morgyn looked up at him. "I'm trying," Morgyn said. "It's just not as easy as deciding I'm going to stop, and doing it. I could. But then someone else would have to get me through university, and I'm not even after this degree to find a job, I'm only doing it because it may help me save Ezio. And even that's not a guarantee, so it could just be a huge waste of time and I'm not asking someone else to pay for that."

The blond's head shook. "It's not so simple as just wanting to quit." No matter how much Morgyn may _want_ it to be that simple, it just... wasn't.

Caleb released a breath, from his nose, and looked up at the ceiling. "I think I just need to think for a while," he said.

Morgyn deflated, somewhat. "Okay," the blond said, standing up. "I'll leave you alone to think, then." Morgyn went around the piano, headed for the stairs.

"Morgyn," Caleb said. "I'm sorry."

Morgyn paused in the doorway, looking at him over one shoulder, and smiled sadly. "So am I."

* * *

It was nice under here. Morgyn had to wonder why the blond hadn't thought of this before. Probably because Morgyn hadn't had a reason to just yet.

They'd only lived here for, what, like five days? And already, here Morgyn was, under one of the computer desks, on the second bottle of wine. At least this was very good wine. Morgyn could be glad for that much.

Alcohol was at least very honest in its interest in fucking you up.

And then there was movement to one side of the blond, and Morgyn looked over to find Ezio sitting down on the floor, not under the desk as well, and that was just as well because Morgyn didn't think there was enough room down here for the both of them.

"So," Ezio started, "why are you getting drunk under the desk?"

Morgyn snorted. "Because alcohol is honest in its intentions," the blond answered, words slurring just slightly. "And nobody was down here."

Ezio sighed. "What I meant was, what happened?" he asked.

Morgyn looked straight ahead, at the side of the desk, eyes following the grain patterns. And then the blond snorted, somewhat derisively. "Caleb needs to _think_ ," Morgyn said venomously. "So, I'm gettin' drunk while he _thinks_."

"Oh, honey..." Ezio said softly. "I'm so sorry."

Morgyn shrugged. "He can hate this if he wants to," the blond said, pausing to drink some of the wine. "I haven't even gotten paid in a few weeks cause I been too busy going out with him and doing university, so you know what, now I'm gettin' drunk so I can go get _paid_."

Ezio just gave the blond a saddened look.

Morgyn snorted. "Don't lookit me with that tone of voice," the blond said. "I'm fine."

Ezio didn't say anything at first. "It's okay to be upset," he said. "But don't do this while you're hurting this much, Morgyn. It'll only make it worse."

As much as Morgyn didn't want to admit it, he was right, and the blond knew it. This kind of thing, right now, it would only serve to compound the pain and make it all worse, and Morgyn knew that too. That was all it'd ever done.

But it wasn't like Morgyn knew what _else_ to do.

Morgyn stared at the wood grains again. "It sounds like we broke up," the blond whispered. And without any warning, the floodgates unleashed, and the blond started crying.

Ezio reached over, taking the bottle of wine and setting it on top of the desk. "Come here," he said, holding his arms out.

And Morgyn shuffled around under the desk, enough to crawl over to Ezio and fall into his arms.

"He's just confused, Morgyn," Ezio said. "Needing time to think doesn't mean he doesn't want you anymore."

Wasn't that _exactly_ what that meant? That was what it _felt_ like it meant. Morgyn didn't say anything, just hiccuped and cried some more.

Ezio sighed. "I know it hurts now," he said. "But eventually he'll come around, you two will work this out, and everything'll be fine. So don't go doing or saying anything you'll regret."

Morgyn hiccuped again. "Making bad decisions comes more naturally," the blond said.

Ezio snorted again. "I know," he said. "That's why I said not to do that."

They went quiet, for a moment, the only sound being Morgyn's drunken, depressed hiccups and grumbles. After a while, Ezio looked down at the blond.

"Come on," he said. "Let's get you to bed. You can sleep this off. Tomorrow's another day."

"Another day for everything to _suck_ ," Morgyn said.

"Come on, it won't be _that_ bad," Ezio said, standing up, and picking Morgyn up off the floor.

Morgyn grumbled, moving around slightly to cling to Ezio. But it wasn't like Ezio had ever dropped the blond before, Morgyn didn't figure he would now, either. Morgyn just wanted to cling to someone.

"I don't want to be alone," Morgyn said.

"I'll stay," Ezio said. "At least until you fall asleep."

"I don't wanna _wake up_ alone, either," Morgyn said, and yes, the blond was whining a little bit.

Ezio sighed. "Okay," he said. "Fine. What are you, ten?"

"Probably," Morgyn answered. "But I miss you too."

"Morgyn, we share a room," he said. "And we live together again besides."

"Sometimes, feelings don't makes sense," Morgyn said. For whatever reason, Morgyn just missed Ezio. It felt like they didn't spend enough time together. Maybe the blond should fix that.

And maybe Morgyn would forget that in the morning.

"We should do stuff together again," Morgyn said. "I miss you, and I don't want to be alone for a while."

"Probably a good idea," Ezio said. "Or I'll have to try too hard not to murder Caleb."

"Don't kill'im," Morgyn said. "He's just confused."

"I know he is," Ezio said. "But you're drunk and crying on my shoulder. I murder people for that."

Morgyn went quiet, watching the blur of the staircase railing go by. Then, the blond spluttered and cried harder. "Why's it hurt so much?"

Ezio released a breath, reaching the staircase landing, and heading for their room. "Because Caleb's the only one you've ever loved besides me."

And he was right. All the same, if Caleb turned around tomorrow and said he was sorry, and he wanted things to go back to how they were, Morgyn would be elated and go along with it.

Because even when Caleb shoved knives in it, he still had Morgyn's heart. And Morgyn wouldn't want it any other way.

* * *

Morgyn had an unbelievable migraine the next morning. The blond had no one else to blame, and Morgyn didn't try to, just got up, came downstairs to drink a glass or two of water, and then eat whatever Ezio had made for breakfast, and then gather up the blond's papers and books and head to school.

The sun was too bright, the birds were too loud, the sky was too blue, the wind was too windy, the flowers were too colourful, and the other students were too cheerful.

Morgyn would get over it sooner or later.

As Morgyn trudged along the pathway to the science building, someone skipped up beside the blond and matched their speeds. Morgyn glanced over to find Liberty over there smiling, but her expression fell when Morgyn's eyes met hers.

Morgyn looked away.

"What's wrong?" Liberty asked.

Morgyn shrugged. "Stupid romance crap, that's all."

Liberty frowned. "You and your boyfriend?" she asked.

"Yeah," Morgyn said. "It didn't quite work out the way I was hoping it would, that's all."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Liberty said. "If you need anything, like if I can help or anything, just ask."

Morgyn looked up at her and smiled slightly. "Thanks," the blond said. "It's just... I'm um. I'm kind of a hooker."

Liberty blinked. "Oh," she said. "And he's having trouble with that?"

"Yeah, seems that way," Morgyn said. "He said he needed time to think, so, I think we're kind of on ice, at least for now."

"He'll come around," Liberty said. "If he really cares. Sometimes people really do just need to think about stuff. Is that why you're in university? You want out of it?"

"Yeah," Morgyn said. "Well, no. I'm in university because I want to save Ezio, but I don't even know if I can and I'm not interested in being a doctor. So I'm in a degree programme that's ultimately just a waste of time, but I really don't want to do this for the rest of my life."

"You're in biology, right?" Liberty asked.

"Yeah," Morgyn said.

"There's also botany and marine biology," Liberty said. "And knowing some science will give you a leg up on other science degrees, so it's not a total waste of time."

Botany and marine biology... those sounded interesting. Morgyn might look into them later.

"Hey," Liberty said, "there's time. It won't happen overnight, but you'll get there. In the meantime, you might be able to get on assistance, maybe earn a few scholarships to help pay tuition."

Morgyn sighed. "I don't know that I qualify for assistance anymore," the blond said. "We just moved into a **§** 200,000 apartment."

"Oh wow," Liberty said. "Okay. Well, if you want, I know of a lot of older people that could use some help around their houses, you know, cleaning and helping put away groceries and things. It's hard work, but it's not _that_. Actually, if you're interested in cleaning, my mother's friends with someone that owns a cleaner business. I think you can ask to be sent to the same house all the time if you prefer familiarity. You're charismatic enough, I think you'd be really liked."

Morgyn slowed down to a stop, turning slightly to stare at Liberty. She looked a little uncomfortable, and then Morgyn's vision blurred and the blond hiccuped and started crying.

"Oh," Liberty said, "I'm so sorry, did I say something? I mean I just figured you could use some help, was that rude?"

"It's fine," Morgyn said, half whined. "I'm sorry, I just..."

She'd just done what Morgyn kept hoping Caleb would do.

"No, you're fine, I just wasn't expecting it. What'd I say?" Liberty asked.

Morgyn's head shook. "Can I hug you?" the blond asked.

Liberty blinked, and then held her arms out.

Morgyn sniffled, shuffled a little closer, and kind of fell into her arms again, arms gently wrapping around her waist. She wasn't a super tiny person, Morgyn could tell she had muscle under a few layers of fat (maybe it was the chocolate and cheesecake), but she was still a bit smaller than she looked like.

"Sorry I'm so emotional," Morgyn said.

Liberty released a puff of air. "It's okay," she said. "My sister's got depression, I'm used to this." As she spoke, one hand started rubbing Morgyn's back lightly.

And for a long moment, Morgyn simply rested against Liberty, and cried. And when the tears were finally gone again, Morgyn sat up, drying the tear tracks.

"I think I'd be interested in both of those," Morgyn said. "Odd jobs and cleaning both sound much more tolerable."

"Were you looking into modelling?" Liberty asked.

"I started to," Morgyn said. "But I think it'll take some time to get anywhere."

"It usually does," Liberty said. "Hey, we'll get you doing something else eventually. If nothing else, Summer works at a restaurant that could use another waiter. You're pretty good with people, it shouldn't be anything for you."

"Thank you," Morgyn said, almost starting to cry again.

"Hey, we're friends right?" Liberty asked. "Friends help their friends, that's all. You'll hear about it when I need your help talking to a cute someone."

Morgyn snorted softly. "I might have to quality screen them first."

Liberty smiled. "I'd totally let you."

Her eyes were so kind. Maybe that was what made her so easy to talk to. Morgyn wouldn't know for sure, but what the sage _did_ know was, Morgyn could pay her back by making sure if anyone sensed her magic awakening, she could defend herself from it.

The best way to protect someone was to teach them to protect themselves.

"Liberty," Morgyn started, "hypothetically, what would you do if I told you magic is real?"

Liberty blinked, and then giggled. "Oh come on," she said. "Magic isn't... ... you're serious."

Morgyn nodded.

"Morgyn, you're a bit quirky, and a little eccentric," she said, "and I accepted those things, and also accepted there are things about you that I'm never going to get. But that's a bit of a something to claim. I want to believe you, it's just... _magic_?"

Morgyn breathed out, and then held one hand out for her. She never really touched the blond without permission, and Morgyn wasn't going to drag her off without asking first.

Liberty raised an eyebrow, but she took the offered hand, and Morgyn led her off around the side of the building. Then, Morgyn let her hand go, held it out, and created a small flicker of _Inferniate_ above the skin.

Liberty squeaked, sucked in a breath, and then leaned over to look at it closer. "Whoa..." she said. She leaned over to the side, making sure there wasn't anything under Morgyn's hand, straightened back out. "What the fuck?"

Morgyn snorted.

"This makes no logical sense at all," Liberty said. "Is it hot?"

"Yes," Morgyn said.

"I can't touch it?" she asked.

"You could," Morgyn answered. "But please don't, you could seriously burn yourself."

Liberty licked her finger, and then flicked it into the fire for a moment. " _Whoa_..."

"It burns off the wick of my magical energy," Morgyn said, pausing a moment to wipe away the last of the tear tracks. "It sort of operates like metaphysical propane I guess. The exact details of this one aren't very well known, but it has a science to it. Magic is science. Science is magic."

Liberty straightened up, and tilted her head. "So, why are you telling me this exactly?" she asked.

"Well," Morgyn said, idly playing with the flames with the other hand, "for one thing, I think I like you, and I want you to stay around. Magic is part of me, has been all my life. I was born this way. And for another thing... I think it's also a part of _you_."


	3. Another Chain to Hold

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Redid the outlines. Again. Because Caleb derailed them. Again. But I think I got this back on the right track, we’ll see if Caleb can pull himself out of this one. It’ll get worse before it gets better, but, it should get better.
> 
> Finally though, some fucking progress on this, our two protag-teams are finally combining together! FINALLY. That only took an age, like my god.
> 
> Also listen, like the whole point of outlines is to prevent nasty surprises, so why do I keep getting them? I blame the size of this monstrosity. It’s so long it leaves a huge margin of error.
> 
> Humane, Lacuna Coil

By most rights, Lilith shouldn't care so much. It was Vladislaus' idea that the Vatores move out of Forgotten Hollow, but Lilith had been all for it once she'd acclimated to the city. She enjoyed San Myshuno, and while she wasn't at home in Spire very often, the move to Uptown wasn't regretted either.

But the Hollow was his legacy. Forgotten Hollow was all Lilith had left to attest that once, Vladislaus Straud had existed. It was making her more defensive of it than she'd been expecting of herself, but perhaps she should've expected it.

Lilith paced around the dining room, trying to stay out of everyone else's way. They were all doing something else, and she was here, pacing around and brooding slightly. That was maybe to be expected, too. Straud manor was trapped in a barrier she had no idea how to free it from, Vladislaus was still gone, and Elle and Inna hadn't found anything terribly useful.

At least Aine was gone now, but it did beg the question of what exactly she'd been hoping to accomplish in Straud manor to begin with.

Unless she was after the power nexus...

"You're going to break the floor," Caleb said as he came in the dining room, raising an eyebrow and sitting down at the table.

Lilith snorted. "I don't think I'll actually break the floor," she said. The floor was a little sturdier than that. If it wasn't, they should sue.

"What's going on?" Caleb asked, watching her.

"Aine's gone now," Lilith said. "But there's still a barrier around Straud manor and I'm trying to figure out why."

Caleb raised an eyebrow. "You sure care a lot about Forgotten Hollow now," he said. "You were the one that was the most interested in leaving it and moving here."

"I know," Lilith said. "But sometimes you don't realise how much something matters to you until it's threatened, I guess. It's hard to explain."

Caleb breathed out. "Do you want to go back?" he asked.

Lilith looked over at him, pausing in her pacing for a moment, and then shrugged and went back to it. "I don't think so," she said. "It's just that it means more to me than I thought it would. I mean, it _was_ our home for a long time."

Caleb snorted. "It wasn't really _home_ , Lilith," he said. "Just something that looked a lot like it."

Lilith slowed to a stop, resting her hand on the back of one of the chairs. "You sound like you hated it."

"I like _people_ , Lil," Caleb said. "People are a rare and special sight in the Hollow."

Lilith shook her head. "I guess. Isn't that what super speed is for? Going anywhere you want to without having to bother with the logistics of getting there?"

"Something like that," Caleb said. "I just don't understand the attachment to the Hollow, that's all."

Lilith released a breath, and went back to pacing. "At the moment," she said, "it's more personal anyway." She'd been chasing Miss Hell down for years, and now here she was, under a barrier squatting in their sire's former mansion.

Like _hell_ she was.

"Miss Hell's involved, isn't she?" Caleb asked softly.

Lilith glanced at him, and didn't say anything before going back to pacing around. But the look on Caleb's face suggested that she didn't _have_ to say anything. Of course Miss Hell was involved? What else would raise all of Lilith's give-a-fuck at once? It was truly a very silly question, if one knew anything about Lilith at all.

Caleb released a sigh, and slid down in his seat. "You don't have to chase her constantly like this," he said. "Maybe it'd be best if you let it go."

Instantly, Lilith stopped pacing, and turned around to look at him, her eyes narrowed in annoyance. He didn't know anything if he thought she could just _let it go_. It just wasn't that simple nor that easy, and Lilith wasn't surprised by that reality in the least.

There were a lot of feelings and frustrations that went along with Miss Hell, not just what she'd done to Caleb. And there were times, actually, where it felt like Caleb was still _listening_ to her, even if she wasn't still here. He was acting just like he used to back then, Lilith thought, but she didn't want to directly say that. Caleb would deny it until he was blue in the face, and it wouldn't solve anything anyway.

"I can't," Lilith said. "If you think I can just _let it go_ , I'm sorry, but you're wrong and you don't really understand why I'm doing it in the first place."

Then, maybe he never really had. Caleb had a habit of eventually trying too hard to believe what she said. Thank god Morgyn was a person that existed, someone that loved him, _actually_ loved him, and not just loved his suffering. Not that Caleb and Morgyn were doing great anymore. They barely spoke.

It was none of Lilith's business, until Caleb talked to her and _made_ it her business.

"She's not a threat to me anymore," Caleb said. "And even when she was, it wasn't that bad."

"Oh my _ass_ it wasn't," Lilith said, immediately rounding on him. "You said that back then, too, and I know you like to believe people are always good at heart and mean well, but Miss Hell did not, does not, and never will. She was only interested in you because you were entertaining and easy to hurt. There was no love there. Now she's squatting on Vlad's manor and desecrating it. She doesn't get to do _one_ of those things and live to tell about it, let alone _both_."

Caleb sighed, and slid down in his seat a little further. "If you say so," he said. "I've got homework to do." He stood up, shuffling out of the dining room and towards the stairs.

Lilith couldn't help but wonder what was up with him.

* * *

"The barrier's blocking pretty much everything," Elle said, gesturing at the manor. It still had the barrier around it, though it was invisible as long as nobody and nothing crashed into it.

"We have no idea what they're doing beyond it," Inna added.

Lilith frowned, reaching down at pulling some of the grass out of the ground. It looked a bit off-colour, but she wasn't sure if she was seeing things, or what that even meant. "Is anything changing?" she asked. Maybe there was something going on that might hint at what they were doing, even if they couldn't outright sense anything.

"Sometimes flowers will sprout and bloom suddenly," Elle said with a shrug. "Other ones die off with no warning or reason."

Lilith released a sigh, dropping the grass in her hand. "Yeah, it sounds like they're trying to use the power nexus."

The whole world had invisible lines called ley lines. These lines, formed of electromagnetic energy, connected various significant sites across the world, many of them supernatural in nature. When a ley line crossed another one, it formed a pool of energy called a power nexus.

Forgotten Hollow had been formed on a power nexus, where not two, but six ley lines crossed each other. That was how the Hollow had remained protected for so long. Vladislaus was using the nexus to shield it from mortals that might see it to its ruin.

It wasn't like vampires had nowhere else to go. Having or not having somewhere else to go wasn't the point, however, not in this. Now, it was a simple matter of pride.

"What exactly would they want the nexus for?" Inna asked. "The darn thing's so hard to control, I can't imagine it'd be useful in anything they want its energies for."

"Yeah," Elle said, nodding. "It'd be a pain in the ass to control."

Inna gave Elle a look, at the curse word, but she didn't say anything.

"Our spellcaster friend has a personal reason to want to break magic realm's defences," Lilith answered. "I think she's using the vampires of Forgotten Hollow to do so, because Vladislaus didn't have the ability to stop her the way a coven alpha would."

Of course, if she kept messing with vampires, sooner or later, Kassander was going to become very annoyed in her direction. Lilith wasn't sure how long that'd take, it could even be why she left in the first place.

Lilith certainly had no personal interest in pissing him off, and _then_ staying where he could find her, and if Aine had any sense, neither did she.

"So what now?" Elle asked. "We're not exactly on good terms with the spellcasters, and if we're dealing with one of their errant problems, it's a little beyond us."

Lilith frowned. Yeah, in a real fight, a vampire tended to barely scrape by against a spellcaster, if they were even lucky enough to manage that much. Lilith should be having a conversation with Ezio and Morgyn about now, but Lilith didn't know if Ezio had even _told_ Morgyn about Aine's involvement in this mess.

Come to think, how much about this mess in general did Morgyn even know anyway? As far as Lilith knew, Ezio hadn't told the blond literally _anything_ about what was going on, and Lilith had the feeling that decision was just about to bite them in the ass.

"I have a friend," Lilith said. "Well, my cousin technically. He's good with barriers, I'll get him over here and we'll see if he can take this barrier down. In the meantime, I'm going to need more information about Miss Hell and Markus' movements than we have now."

"I'm _not_ doing recon," Elle said.

Inna looked over at her and frowned. "Aw, come on Ellie," she said.

"You're not doing recon either!" Elle said, looking pointedly at Inna.

Inna pouted. "I'm really good at recon! No one suspects the nice one!"

"Absolutely not," Elle said. "It's too dangerous."

Lilith released a sigh and rolled her eyes. "If you two are quite done with this lover's spat..."

"No," Elle said. "But we can argue about it at home."

"Maybe you ought to make friends with the Strangerville people," Lilith said, raising an eyebrow.

"Why?" Elle asked.

"Oh, you know," Lilith answered. "I've just heard they're good at spying." She'd also heard a few other things about the citizens of Strangerville and a few of those things were, how you say, _disturbing_ , and that was concerning considering she was a lethal creature of the night.

But if not sending Inna into the lion's den directly made Elle feel better, then maybe the people that lived in Strangerville would be useful, for learning how to gain information from someone without simply punching them in the face.

For the record, Lilith found that punching someone in the face often worked a little better. Maybe she just hit really hard.

"Alright," Elle said. "We'll look into it. Good luck getting that barrier down. What do we do when it's down if we get it there?"

Lilith sighed, rolling her eyes and looking at Elle in exasperation.

Inna loosed a little giggle. "We _murder_ , silly!" she said, and the happy way she said it almost wigged Lilith out.

* * *

"I haven't broken a barrier in centuries, Lilith," Drake said. "The last time I had to, Ezio and I were running from France."

Lilith released a sigh. "I know that was a long time ago, and I'm not expecting miracles," she said, sitting down in a chair. "I just need a little help here. If you can find a weak point at least, _something_ , I think we can push it the rest of the way and break it."

He may not even need to find a weak point, necessarily. It was possible that simply pushing against it the right way, or wrong way (which would that be? Lilith didn't know), would cause it to weaken to the point Lilith and the girls could get it broken, even if Drake couldn't.

"I'll certainly see what I can do," Drake answered. "Though I am curious why you're so interested in bringing this barrier down."

Lilith shook her head, crossing her arms over her chest, standing, and meandering around. Anymore, she felt a little restless, and she couldn't say why that was. Like something was seriously wrong, almost, and she had no idea how to fix it or if she even could.

"Miss Hell and Markus Crow are squatting on Straud manor," Lilith said. "When they first got there, Aine was leading them. I have reason to believe Aine killed Vladislaus and now she's trying to take over Forgotten Hollow's power nexus."

Drake frowned. "What the hell would she want that for?" he asked.

Lilith shrugged. "My only guess at the moment is that she's manipulating the vampires in the Hollow to give her the power to break into magic realm. That must've been what she was doing in the eighties."

Drake considered it for a moment, and then shook his head. "That doesn't quite make sense," he said. "She should be able to get into magic realm just fine if she just walks into it."

"You and I both know she's most likely after the All," Lilith said. "That's the only reason _anyone_ would want to break into magic realm instead of just walk in. But she's smarter than that and should be well aware that she can't handle the All itself."

Drake nodded. "She wouldn't be able to contain it," he said. "No one can, as far as I know."

"We've never had anyone really _try_ ," Lilith said. "They get close to it, they burn out and die on the barrier that protects it, that's as far as anyone's gotten before. Aine's unfortunately intelligent enough, she may be able to work around it and figure something out. I wouldn't put it past her to have been working out how to get around the barrier for years now."

Drake's gaze darkened. "She'd be after one of the five families," he said.

"Most likely," Lilith said. "It's the easiest way to break the barrier and not die on it. But finding one of those is unimaginably tricky. One of the Embers could _probably_ break it. Drake, Ezio could break through it. He's one of the most powerful spellcasters we've ever had."

Drake shook his head. "I don't think Aine would go that way."

"If she was desperate enough, I think she would," Lilith said. "But I don't think he'd survive it." Ezio was unfortunately relatively delicate, though he liked to _pretend_ he wasn't. Breaking the barrier around the All, he _could_ do it, Lilith believed that, but it'd cost him.

Unsurprisingly, Drake didn't look terribly pleased with this idea, glancing away to look at the floor.

Lilith breathed out. "Sarnai is awake, too," Lilith said.

Drake's head snapped up to look at her. "You're joking," he said.

"I wish I was," Lilith answered. "Elle and Inna say she's been awake for decades by now, but they didn't start sensing her until now. I can't say what she was doing all that time, but I don't think it was anything _good_. Someone of Sarnai's calibre stands a _much_ higher chance of containing the All successfully, too. The only one that'd be better than her in that regard is probably either Surya or one of the Essairs."

Drake gave Lilith a pointed look. "There was a vampire nearby a while back," he said. "I only know because I sensed it, whoever it was didn't get terribly close to the apartment complex at least, but now I'm starting to wonder if it was anyone we know."

"You think that was Sarnai?" Lilith asked.

"I'm just not ruling out the possibility," Drake answered. Then, he looked up at Lilith. "Are we saving _Sarnai_ from Aine next?"

Lilith snorted. "I don't think I could if I _wanted_ to."

* * *

School was something that still existed, unfortunately. It wasn't like Lilith expected it to suddenly disappear, and they were reading an interesting screenplay in one of her literature classes, it was just an annoying break in everything else. Lilith would much rather spend the time figuring out this mess with the vampires and the evil spellcaster.

Lilith would really like to find Aine, and slam her face into a curb a few times. See how much of a problem she'd be after _that_.

It was just unfortunate that she was _still_ haunting Morgyn. If the bitch was going to go, it would be better for everyone involved if she just _went_ , and preferably, stayed went. Nothing turned out the way one wanted, though. It wasn't anything surprising.

As Lilith wandered off to the library to hopefully get a little more work done on her paper, she noticed an energy signature she recognised wandering around seemingly aimlessly. Lilith headed towards the signature, wandering up beside Emilia as she looked around in befuddlement.

She turned around, catching sight of Lilith and unleashing a squeal.

Lilith tried not to laugh at her, but did smile rather widely.

"Wow, I wasn't expecting to run into you again," Emilia said.

"I do go here," Lilith said.

"Oh," Emilia answered. "What are you in?"

"Language and literature," Lilith answered. "I want to be a writer someday. Well, I guess I'm technically _already_ a writer, I have a few books that are published now, but I just don't feel like a writer."

Emilia smiled. "That sounds strange," she said. "You have books published, but you don't feel like a writer?"

Lilith snorted. "No one said I made any sense," she said. "You look a little lost, though."

"Oh," Emilia started, "I was trying to find the dormitories, but I'm not entirely sure where they are. This map is either written in Chinese, or upside down, I'm not sure which it is."

Lilith smiled again, and pointed at the dormitory towers. "You'll want one of those," she said. "You've enrolled in Britechester?"

"Oh jeez, thank you," Emilia said. "And yeah, I didn't get into Foxbury, but that's okay. I like the way Britechester looks, it's got a charm to it."

Lilith laughed. "If by charm you mean it looks like it needs a renovation," she said.

"No, really," Emilia said. "I like the architectural style and the stone colour. The vines are a nice touch, too. I guess I'll see you around from time to time if you go here then, huh?"

Lilith nodded. "Yeah, probably," she said. "Supposedly all the science courses are in the same building, so most of your classes should be in the same general vicinity of each other. And Morgyn's also taking biology here, so if you need help, you can ask the sage."

Emilia tilted her head. "Morgyn didn't get into Foxbury either?"

Uh, no, Morgyn _did_ get into Foxbury. Then the blond had decided that Foxbury was too modern, or whatever it was Morgyn had said, Lilith forgot. It was ridiculous and a little stupid, that was what Lilith remembered of that conversation. "Well, um, he did," Lilith said. "Just decided to take it here instead."

"Oh," Emilia said. "I guess I need to work on getting into the distinguished programme then."

Lilith smiled. "I'm sure you can," she said. "Things were just a little messy there for a bit, yeah?"

"Right," Emilia said, nodding. "Well, if you're going here I guess it can't be too bad here then."

Lilith snorted. "Am I the 'terrible school' judge?" she asked.

"Something like that," Emilia said.

"Foxbury and the University of Britechester are in an on-going, ages old rivalry," Lilith said. "Last I heard they even split Laurel Library, which is on neutral ground in Gibbs Hill, in two, so there's a lobster side and a dragon side. This whole rivalry is a little much."

"Yeah, sounds like it," Emilia said, raising an eyebrow. "You're not into that, are you?"

Lilith shrugged. "I'm on the soccer team," she said. "Unfortunately, I get dragged into it from time to time." Soccer was fun, but another one of those things that took up too much time for Lilith's patience right now.

She'd get over it.

"Oh, you're into soccer?" Emilia asked. "I'm terrible at keeping my balance and running in a straight line and _not_ falling down the stairs... I'd be horrible at sports. I don't even know much about them."

Lilith snorted. "There's not much to know about sports," she said. "Most of the time, you just get the ball in the thing. Whatever the thing is. For soccer it's a goal net on either side of the field, players can't touch the ball with their hands unless they're stopping the other team from getting the ball in the thing."

"Oh," Emilia said, and then laughed slightly. "That sounds like a very cliff-notes version, but it was easy enough to understand."

"Good," Lilith said. And then pulled her phone out and checked the time. "Well hey, I have to get to class," she said. "I'll see you around?"

Emilia nodded. "Yeah I should go up and meet my dorm-mates, I guess," she said. "I'd like that."

"Here," Lilith said, pulling up her phone contacts and handing Emilia her phone. "If you don't mind, I'd love your number."

"Oh," Emilia said, taking the phone, and then fished her own out, bringing up her contacts and handing it to Lilith.

"Heh, now if you get lost again, you can just text me," Lilith said, typing her number into Emilia's phone.

Emilia giggled. "Are you sure you want to deal with my terrible sense of direction?" she asked.

"Yeah, sure," Lilith said.

"You sound like you're used to taking care of someone," Emilia said.

"Yeah," Lilith answered. "My brother's really terrible at managing by himself, and I just got used to it I guess."

Emilia smiled, handing Lilith's phone back. After a moment, Lilith handed Emilia's back, too.

"Good luck with the dorm-mates," Lilith said.

"Good luck with class," Emilia answered, and then turned around and skipped off towards the dormitory towers.

And Lilith hoped everything worked out for her. She was a nice girl.

* * *

There was no point to this, it was just something to pass the time. Lilith sat on a chair, paintbrush running across the canvas in no particular way. Abstract art was more her thing, something that expressed the consistent jumble of befuddlement that was always in her head.

Some thought she didn't _have_ emotions, or that she did and simply didn't understand them, but the truth was a little more complicated. Lilith felt them, they were just dimmer and easier to ignore than they seemed to be for others.

Until more recently, she didn't even know that was a strange thing. She didn't know her emotions were any dimmer or not than anyone else's, and maybe it didn't matter either way. She functioned fine, and maybe her memory was weak, and maybe she didn't always know what she felt or why, but it wasn't really hurting her, either.

Lilith released a sigh, scraping the paintbrush across the canvas again. The first bills were about to be due, and Lilith was a little concerned they wouldn't be able to afford it. But there were only three of them that lived here and ate actual food or felt the temperature changes, so maybe the bills wouldn't be as bad as it felt like they should turn out.

She still wasn't sure what to do with Caleb. He was never home anymore. Of course, Caleb had been in and out of their apartment in Culpepper before, he seemed to have somewhere besides university he was going, but he'd never said what. Usually, after an outing, which took _for actual ever_ , he came home smelling just vaguely of stale cigarettes and burnt coffee.

It wasn't any of her business. Caleb didn't need a babysitter, she just wondered what he was getting into. He did have a habit of getting in over his head, and not knowing what to do.

Or worse, _not knowing_.

Lilith set the paintbrush in the glass of water, tilting her head at the canvas. The door opened behind her, and Ezio came in. She turned over her shoulder, looking at him.

"Hey," she said. "Welcome home."

"Thank you," Ezio answered. "Painting something?"

Lilith turned back around to look at the canvas. "Something," she said. "I have no idea what. My feelings, I guess, at least as far as I can guess at them."

"Not a very strong feeling?" Ezio asked, shuffling over to stand beside her and look at it too. Whatever he thought remained behind passive grey eyes. He was very good at hiding his emotions when he wanted to do so. Lilith used to think it was kind of cool.

Now it was just worrisome.

"No," Lilith said with a sigh. "I think I'm frustrated." But of course, the feeling was somewhat fleeting, and she had no idea what to make of it. Maybe it was what she thought it was. Maybe, if it held still long enough for her to feel it, she'd find it was something else entirely.

"You'll figure it out," Ezio said, and then shuffled away towards the entry to hang his jacket on the coat rack.

"Hey, strange question," Lilith said, turning around in her seat, "anything notable happen recently?"

Ezio glanced over at her, dropping his jacket on the rack, and then shrugged. "Well, Morgyn got attacked by a vampire a while back."

Lilith sat up straighter. "Wait, what?"

Ezio loosed a huff. "Don't worry, we chased her off," he said. "But I don't think it'll be easier to chase her off next time."

"What did she look like?" Lilith asked.

"Black hair, purple eyes, dark skin, she had a lot of tattoos," Ezio said with a shrug.

"Sarnai," Lilith said, slouching in her seat. "How did you two survive an encounter with _Sarnai_?"

Ezio looked perplexed and then raised an eyebrow. "Sarnai?" he asked. "I don't know, she was after Morgyn, and ran when I showed up. Like she wasn't expecting there to be _two_ of us. Implies she was after not Morgyn, but a sage."

Lilith frowned. "She was probably hoping to find one," Lilith said. "If I'm guessing right, she's after the All, and a sage could theoretically get her through the barrier around magic realm. The barrier around the All is another story, but one thing at a time I'd guess."

Ezio sighed. "Yeah, I kind of had a feeling this was about the All."

"I think she's working with Aine, Ezio," Lilith said. "Aine can't contain the All, she'd know she can't. But Sarnai's _thousands_ of years old, she's one of the ancients. The only vampire that's a better choice than her is Kassander and good luck with that."

"Kassander could probably contain the All, you're right," Ezio said, sitting down. "If she's working with Aine, though, then we have two different problems."

"Three," Lilith said. "I've also got Miss Hell and Markus Crow doing something in Forgotten Hollow, and I _suspect_ they're trying to command the power nexus well enough to allow Aine to use it to break the barrier around magic realm. Just in case Morgyn doesn't come quietly."

Ezio frowned. "Right, Forgotten Hollow was founded on a nexus, fuck," he said, breathing out.

"Ezio, you realise you're powerful enough," Lilith said, "that you might be able to break the All's barrier."

Ezio looked up at her and snorted. "No I'm not," he said.

"We'll have to accept our differences on this one, because I really think you are," she said. "Morgyn's awfully powerful too, between the two of you, you could have the All at your knees in a few minutes I should think."

Ezio reached up, taking his glasses off and rubbing the bridge of his nose. "So, be careful, is that what you're trying to say?"

Lilith snorted. "I know better than to tell you to be careful," she said. "You have a nasty habit of taking it as a challenge."

"Hey," Ezio protested. "You're right, but you don't have to _say_ it."

Lilith shook her head. "So we've got Aine to worry about, Sarnai doing anyone knows what, and Markus and Miss Hell."

Ezio frowned, rubbing the bridge of his nose again and then sliding his glasses back on. "I can't really help you with Miss Hell and Markus," he said. "I don't even know where Aine is, and if she's smart she's nowhere I can find her. And Sarnai seems to be after Morgyn. I'll have my hands full trying to keep Morgyn from doing something stupid. The idiot's not fighting at top performance either, thanks to the mess with Caleb."

Lilith frowned. "You know," she said, "there was a vampire messing with _your_ head. Taking out Morgyn's support system _would_ mean taking Caleb out."

Ezio shook his head. "He doesn't feel like another vampire," he said.

"They may be disguising their signature in his," Lilith said. "He's just so _weird_ Ezio, I have a hard time believing that's really him."

Ezio looked up at the ceiling. "I can try and corner him and see if I can get anything off him, but I haven't so far."

"Raise mind-control wards?" Lilith asked. "Kassander's Apollo has the ability to do that, right? He can teach you how I'm sure."

"Probably, if I asked," Ezio answered. "I don't know when I'll have the time."

"Long as you don't totally forget, that's all I care about," Lilith said, and then went quiet for a moment. Then, she shifted in her seat. "Ezio, if Aine really is behind this, you're going to _have_ to tell Morgyn that, whether you want to or not."

Ezio looked away, towards the wall.

"Ezio," Lilith went on. "Any threat to the All is Morgyn's concern. And Aine _was_ Morgyn's mentor. He deserves to know the truth. From you."

"I know," Ezio said. "But for just a little longer, I want things to stay alright."


	4. Why Did I Choose to Betray You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one goes hard, through like the entire thing so it doesn’t really ever quit going hard.
> 
> I was telling spousal bean, this one is like a trauma grab bag. Right? Like we’ve got something for everyone. Pick your poison! Torture, sexual abuse, sex workers, transgender issues, gaslighting and manipulation, mind control, relationship toxicity, and then Caleb threw in a new one randomly.
> 
> I get it. I know how he got here. I really do. I’m still…. ksad jkndfks dbfjls bdfjks dbjsd fdf WHY DID HE DO THIS TO ME!!!!!111ONE
> 
> Heaven’s a Lie, Lacuna Coil

The sun was falling behind the other buildings in Uptown. Ezio was flopped over on the couch in the living room, watching the sun's rays vanish, half reading a book. He said _half_ reading a book, because he was only partly paying attention to it, but of course, he'd read this one a thousand times already, it seemed like.

Books were like old friends, he thought. Old friends whose expectations never changed, who may hurt you, but always in ways that weren't personal. It was a difficult thing to explain, even in his own head, and Ezio wasn't sure if he wanted to think about it too hard.

As much as he hated to admit it, Lilith was right. Ezio couldn't hide Aine's involvement with this, or the bigger picture, from Morgyn for much longer. Morgyn was the only sage left that wasn't trapped in magic realm, and Ezio still didn't have a solution for _that_ , either.

He didn't know what to do, but in this situation, maybe he didn't have to be the one that knew what to do, either. This wasn't his fight, and he knew that. Morgyn would always have him on the blond's side, but this was barely even his business, and the only reason it was at all was because magic realm was his home for so long.

Not that he made a habit of returning to it anymore. Maybe he should fix that. You know, later, when they didn't have psychopathic ex-sage necromancer with vampire friends problems.

Ezio released a quiet sigh, and shifted on the couch. And then the door opened. Ezio looked up over his shoulder, as Morgyn wandered in, and smiled.

"Hey," Morgyn said. "Reading that _again_?" The blond raised an eyebrow. _The Restaurant at the End of the Universe_ had been read and re-read and re-read again. The covers were falling off.

"Of course," Ezio said, marking his place and delicately closing the book. It took a bit of arranging the covers so that they didn't just fall off. Ezio set the book down on the side-table, and then patted the couch beside him, indicating for Morgyn to sit down.

They had a lot to talk about.

Morgyn looked concerned, and then set the book bag down by the door, slowly shuffling over to the couch. "What's wrong?" the blond asked, gingerly settling down beside Ezio.

"We need to talk," Ezio said.

"Are you okay?" Morgyn asked, almost immediately.

"I'm fine," Ezio said. "It's not about that. I just haven't been being very honest with you about certain things and I think it's time you knew about them. I shouldn't be keeping these things from you anyway."

Granted, there was a specific order Ezio intended to address these in, and depending on how Morgyn reacted to the early ones, they may never _get_ to the later ones. The ones that could threaten Morgyn's life.

"Okay," Morgyn said, still sounding a bit unsure. "What's up then?"

Ezio drew a breath in. "Do you remember, back in the eighties, when you died?" he asked.

"Uh-huh," Morgyn answered, nodding.

"I didn't hunt her down," Ezio said. "She came to me."

"Ezio I was never mad at you for-"

"No, hang on, I'm not done," Ezio interrupted, holding a hand up. "I had every intention of shredding her whether she came to me or not, so that particular point is moot. The wording she used, the way she acted, it was indicative of mind control."

Morgyn nodded. "Yeah, she was kind of loopy with me too."

"The more we fought, the more clearly she felt like necromancy," Ezio said. "And then I killed her, she burst into ashes which vampires normally don't do. Creatures that have been raised for too long, there's nothing holding them together but magic anymore, and they'll break apart into ash or sand. She had been raised a long time before then."

Morgyn nodded again. "So there's a necromancer doing bad things, got it."

Ezio breathed out. "Morgyn, when I killed her, Aine showed up."

Morgyn stared at him for a moment, and then the blond's head shook, Morgyn stood up and started to walk away. "Not this again," Morgyn said. "Ezio, you can't keep _blaming_ Aine for _everything_."

Yeah, Ezio didn't _think_ that was going to go very well. "I'm not _trying_ to," Ezio said, standing and following. "But you've gotta understand what that _looks_ like."

"She isn't the cause of everything that's wrong in our lives!" Morgyn said. "It's like she's the bogeyman to you, Ezio, please, just let it go already."

Ezio's nostrils flared, as he turned away, eyebrows furrowing together. "No, I don't suppose she _is_ the cause of everything wrong in our lives, but she's the cause of a _lot_ of them."

"Ezio, stop it-"

" _You stop it, Morgyn!_ " Ezio interrupted. Frost shot across the floor. "I know you don't want to deal with it, I know you don't want to pick sides, I know you want to believe the best in her, and I know this is hard for you and I'd never try and make you deal with something that hurt you if it wasn't necessary!"

"How is this necessary?" Morgyn asked. "This is stupid and it's over and done with and there's no point in ruining what little of her I have left!"

" _God damn it_ Morgyn, she wasn't any good to you then, and she isn't any good to you now, either. Burying your head in the sand and pretending she didn't _abandon_ you on your own to figure everything out without her, after spending way too fucking long trying to make you fit into a box you were never going to fit into in the first place, doesn't mean it didn't happen!"

" _I loved her, Ezio!_ " Morgyn shrieked, the blond starting to cry.

" _And I love you!_ This is the same as it was with Jackson! You hated him because he was hurting me, and I hate Aine because she was hurting you!"

Morgyn went silent, hands raising to cover the blond's mouth, and then Morgyn loosed a sob, turned around, and ran up the stairs.

And Ezio looked around at the frost coating the floor, parts of the walls... and kind of wanted to die.

* * *

Ezio had gotten the ice out of the living room, trudged out onto the balcony, and fell over on the couch, watching the glittering lights below. That was why. He'd been right, it turned out, not to tell Morgyn anything that had anything to do with Aine.

He would've figured, by now, that Morgyn would've gotten past her and let her go. Morgyn always _was_ a stubborn thing, just like Ezio was, and maybe right now, with things with Caleb on rocky ground, Morgyn couldn't handle this.

Unfortunately, this wasn't going to wait until Morgyn could handle it. And it looked like Ezio was on his own with this one. He was always on his own when it came to Aine, he shouldn't be surprised.

Morgyn always did choose Aine over him.

As he watched the lights shimmer and twinkle, his vision blurred. There were so many things between them that neither had ever said, things that they had never dealt with for lack of the time to. Those things had gone and been forgotten, and then when something dredged them up, neither of them had any idea what to do with all of it.

Well, one thing was for sure, Morgyn couldn't be counted on in the fight against Aine. He and Lilith would have to figure out what to do without the idiot.

Ezio didn't think it would go well. But, just once, he wished Morgyn would take his side.

The balcony door opened, and closed. Ezio raised his head to look over his shoulder at the door. The particular shades of the blur over there, blurs, there were two, indicated it was Drake and Cassandra. Ezio laid back down.

"Oh, Ezio..." Cassandra said softly.

Drake shuffled over, gently picking Ezio up and sitting down, then laying Ezio back down in his lap. Ezio shifted around and hugged him. Cassandra wandered over, and laid down against him, lying her head on his hip.

None of them said anything, for a long time. Ezio sniffled and hiccuped, Drake gently pet his hair, and Cassandra rubbed his back. Ezio didn't know what he'd do without these two. He thought he'd be very lost without them, and what amazed him the most, was that they'd just fallen into this on accident.

"This hurts," Ezio said, between breaths. It didn't need to be said that they'd heard it. The Fengs probably heard it.

"I know," Drake said quietly, still running his fingers through blackened waves. "Morgyn will come around."

"If the idiot's not accepted it by now," Ezio said, "I don't know that it'll ever happen."

"It'll work out," Cassandra said. "You two love each other too much not to work it out eventually."

With most things, Ezio would agree with her. They did love one another, very much, and they'd made it through everything else that life had ever thrown at them, and everything they'd ever thrown at each other. But it was a little different this time.

Ezio had let it go. That penchant Morgyn had for choosing Aine over him. But now that the blond had done it, _yet again_ , decades later, it'd reawakened all the hurt and the bitterness from before, and Ezio wasn't sure if he could just... _let it go_ again.

Cassandra didn't need that. She meant well, and they were both probably right, and eventually Morgyn would see sense and try to apologise. But this time, Ezio had to find it in him to forgive.

But that was what happened, wasn't it, when you consistently put other people before you. You taught them that you came second.

"Why is everything so messed up?" Ezio asked. He didn't know. Because things were just messed up for some reason, and he didn't know how to fix any of it. It was always him that had all the answers before, it was a little bit frustrating not to have them this time.

Drake released a sigh. "Because this is how Aine wanted it," he said. "You know she was trying to pull you two apart from the beginning."

Ezio snorted. "The only thing she wasn't trying to do is kill me, I guess," he said. He went quiet a moment, reaching up and brushing his tears away. Now he had a headache from crying so long, but he should've expected that, probably.

"Probably because she couldn't," Drake said.

"Really?" Ezio said, looking up at him. "I thought I couldn't handle Aine by myself."

Drake released a sigh. Cassandra giggled quietly, nuzzling down against Ezio's side.

"I worry a lot, I know," Drake said. "Too much. You're a very powerful spellcaster, and you can take care of yourself, Aine's just a greater risk than I'm used to you facing, that's all."

Ezio reached up, and rested a hand on Drake's cheek. He leaned slightly into the contact, then took Ezio's hand in his and kissed his palm.

"I can't die even if you kill me," Ezio said. "I've made it too far for that."

* * *

If he worked on his paper the rest of the weekend, he should be able to have it done before Monday, and not need to worry about it anymore.

Ezio wasn't sure if he could make that deadline, but on the other hand, he and Morgyn weren't talking anymore. It was more because every time Morgyn came within speaking range of him, Ezio walked away.

He still needed the time to think. And _brood_ , he was doing some brooding.

As he wandered down the street, headed back home after spending all day studying at Britechester, he went over his course material in his head, attempting to apply it to his term paper. He'd gotten the presentation done some time ago, but he hadn't given it yet. That was merely because Ezio wasn't a very strong public speaker just yet.

He was trying, but he was also painfully shy and occasionally ridiculously anxious and skittish for no reason. The monsters in his head, if he had to guess.

Ezio headed for Spire, but he felt something shift in the air. At first, he wasn't sure what it was, but he stopped in his tracks, tilting his head, trying to sense what that was.

As he stood there wondering, a blast of psychic energy shot towards him from the side. Quickly, Ezio dropped his books and flipped out of the way. The blast hit one of the low stone fences.

"You sure are fast, for a human," a feminine voice said, and the dark skinned, purple eyed vampire dropped seemingly from the sky.

"Yeah," Ezio said. "Comes with practice."

The vampire, whom Ezio presumed was Sarnai, smiled just a little too widely at him, and drew her hand back, throwing another burst of psychic energy.

Ezio flipped out of the way again, this time swinging his leg through the air and firing off a burst of icicles.

Sarnai lazily tossed psychic bolts, shattering the icicles. "Where's the blond one?" she asked. "You're not the one we were looking for."

Ezio smiled. "Well, great news," he said. "I'm the gatekeeper. If you want the blond one, you go through me first." He shifted his foot, suddenly coating the flooring in ice, which raised abruptly into spikes.

Sarnai disappeared and reappeared behind him, lazily tossing shadow bolts in his direction.

Ezio raised his hands, pulling up an ice wall and blocking the bolts. Then, he threw his arm outward. The wall exploded, hurtling towards her as a series of shards.

She was quick, too, rapidly dodging out of the way of all of them. Ezio got annoyed, his eyes narrowing, and then disappeared in a burst of gold light and reappeared behind her.

She didn't redirect in time, and Ezio slammed his shoulder into her. Sarnai fell towards the asphalt, and then vanished in a burst of smoke.

Ezio waited, until she'd reformed, and then instantly shot off after her. She moved, but he was right behind her. Ezio jumped upward, hit the ice, and then Sarnai slipped and hit the ice too. Quickly, Ezio raised the ice, just as Sarnai disappeared in another burst of smoke.

She reappeared behind him, and threw another bolt of shadow. Ezio didn't move fast enough, and went crashing into one of the pillars, but he stood back up and disappeared. When he reappeared to one side, not far from her, he immediately threw more ice at her. Then _she_ disappeared.

And on and on they went, dancing circles around each other, neither gaining the upper hand. Sarnai disappeared in bursts of smoke, Ezio vanished in flashes of gold, ice, shadow, and psychic energy going everywhere. Several bolts of shadow and ice crashed through windows in the apartment buildings.

Ezio threw his arm out, firing a burst of ice in something of an arc; it slammed into her and threw her into the side of one of the buildings. A burst of psychic energy fired back. Ezio formed another ice wall, blocking it, and then kicked the wall. Once again, it burst into shards and fired at her.

She disappeared, and then reappeared almost right next to him and fired a bolt of psychic energy. Ezio went skittering across the asphalt.

And he tasted it. Blood at the back of his throat. He had a time limit, and he knew that going into it.

For a moment, Ezio simply breathed, and looked at the ice on the asphalt under him. He raised his fist, and slammed it down onto the ice; it immediately shot everywhere, rising up off the asphalt in a wave, and slamming down onto Sarnai, instantly encasing her in ice.

She shouldn't be able to get out of that. Ezio sat there, breathing, and then slowly stood up.

And the ice shattered.

Ezio's eyes went wide, one hand balling into a fist and glowing gold for a moment. She threw another psychic bolt, two, three, Ezio flipped out of the way and then disappeared in another burst of gold. The last blast of psychic energy crashed into and knocked down one of the stone walls around the seating areas.

Reappearing right next to Sarnai, Ezio raised his knee, slamming it into her abdomen, and then roundhouse kicked her across the asphalt. She twisted around, flipping up and regaining control of her movement, and threw a tendril of darkness at him. It snaked around his ankle, and threw him into Alto Apartments, then into Landgraab Apartments.

Ezio released a shriek, as he hit the asphalt. He was starting to go a little dizzy, and the blood taste was getting stronger. He moved to stand, but another tendril snagged him around the neck. Instinctively, Ezio raised one hand into it and blocked it from tightening around his neck unhindered.

It burned, instead, and Ezio wasn't sure what to make of that. Either way, he had to get loose of it. His free hand raised and shot off a shard of ice, but she lazily shattered it.

"It's nothing personal," she said. "You're simply in the way."

Ezio grit his teeth, as the tendril tightened, come on Ezio, you're a genius, _think_ -

Sarnai unleashed a sudden screech, as her arm went up in flames. Morgyn fired another burst of flame, rocketing across the asphalt faster than Ezio had ever seen the blond move before. Sarnai blocked that blast, and then vanished.

The tendril of shadow around his neck released, and Ezio dropped to his knees, gasping for air.

Morgyn fell beside him. "Ezio, holy shit, are you okay?" the blond asked.

Ezio breathed for a moment, and then looked up at Morgyn. "I'm _fine_ ," he said. "Thank you." It took a moment or two, but Ezio stood up, wobbled slightly, and then headed for Spire.

Morgyn breathed out, debated for a moment, and then followed him.

* * *

Morgyn followed Ezio the entire way up to their apartment at the top of Spire. Ezio didn't say a single word to the blond, save one.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Morgyn asked.

Ezio released a snort. "Yes."

"Ezio, please, talk to me," Morgyn said.

Ezio didn't say anything at all, simply stepped out of the elevator, and headed for one of the bathrooms.

Morgyn sighed, and followed, still. Ezio had a few cuts and scrapes, some deeper than other ones, from getting tossed all over Uptown and crashing into a couple buildings. His right arm was slicked in his own blood, it was rather uncomfortable, and the ache was going to grate his nerves.

Wordlessly, Ezio turned on the sink, and rinsed the blood off.

"I'm not sure that's going to work," Morgyn said. "You're coated in blood Ezio, not just your arms."

Ezio still didn't say anything, wordlessly sitting up, pulling his shirt off.

Morgyn winced; some of the marks in his skin were going to leave scars, and there was a half ring around his neck and his wrist, from Sarnai catching him around the neck.

Morgyn pulled the bandaging out of the cabinet, and instead of saying anything at all, just started to deal with the blood Ezio couldn't reach, and then bandaging the wounds. Ezio wasn't surprised it'd turned out this messy. She was a very powerful vampire, and Ezio thought she was stronger than he'd first thought.

He didn't _figure_ chasing her off the second time would be as easy as it was the first time. It _was_ interesting that she'd run when Morgyn had showed up, though.

For a long while, the two were quiet. Ezio wrapped his arms in bandages, once they were clean of blood and he'd smeared anti-bacterial medicine on the injuries.

Morgyn eventually released a sigh. "I'm sorry about the other day, Ezio," the blond said. "I just... don't like it when people say things like that about Aine."

Ezio didn't answer, just wordlessly continued wrapping his arm.

Morgyn leaned over to look at him, and then straightened back out. "You two were always at each other's throats," the blond went on. "Shutting it out was the only way I managed to get through it. It was hard for me, I loved you both, and I didn't want you two to hate each other like you did."

Ezio breathed out, and then snorted. "I'm always on your side, Morgyn," he said quietly. "If you told me that Drake was out to kill me, I'd at least look into it, but you don't do the same for me. This is why I don't tell you anything. You can't expect me to be honest with you, and then punish me for it when I am. You can't ask for the truth, and then be angry when you get it. That's not how this works."

"I wasn't angry, I was just, hurt," Morgyn said, hands dropping as the blond moved around in front of him. "I was just hurt, and I lashed out when I shouldn't have at someone that I shouldn't have lashed out at, it was only once, I won't do it again."

Ezio shook his head, pulling his shirt back on. Morgyn could _say_ the blond wouldn't do it again, but Ezio knew better. Morgyn _always_ did this, notably when it was about Aine.

"It wasn't surprising," Ezio said. "I always did figure you liked Aine more than me."

"What?" Morgyn said, eyebrows drawing together. "No I didn't, that is _not_ true."

"Then why did you always take her side?" Ezio asked. "Think about it Morgyn. You have _never once_ chosen me over her, but you were always very quick to jump to her defence. I didn't even say anything bad about her or accuse her of anything that time. All I said was, she was there, and _that_ is how you reacted."

Morgyn drew away slightly, frowning.

Ezio shook his head, turning to the floor for a moment. "How do you think that _felt_ , Morgyn?" he asked, almost a whisper, and then he turned and walked away.

He didn't care what the answer was. Not now.

* * *

The buzz of the street lights seemed strangely loud. His head was starting to hurt, and Caleb knew he was starting to get snappy and irritable, at least with Lilith. He pushed those thoughts out of his mind and made his way down the street in Willow Creek, towards one of the back alleys, his shoes tapping equally loudly on the concrete.

His eyes kept darting around, making sure he wasn't being followed, one hand tapping against his leg rapidly, and then he ducked in a doorway. The back entrance to one of the clubs wasn't the best entry, but it was the fastest way to get where he was going all the same, Caleb had figured that out a long time ago.

Caleb shuffled down the hallway, knocking on one of the doors and then turning the knob and shuffling in. "Hey," he said, turning around.

"Same shit as always?" one of the men in the room asked, taking a long drag off a pipe.

"Yeah," Caleb said. "Little more than usual. Give me another half."

"Goes up by ten bucks, man," the guy answered, leaning over and pulling a bag of something out.

"That's fine," Caleb answered, counting it out and handing him the money.

The man gave him the bag in return, and then watched him for a moment. "You jittery as fuck dude," he said. "You want this joint, too? I'll throw it in for free."

Caleb looked up at him, and then breathed out and nodded. "Yeah, thanks."

The man handed him the joint on the coffee table, and went back to his pipe. "See ya next week."

"Who's playing today?" Caleb asked, pulling out a lighter.

"Don't know," the man answered. "Some group from San My, I haven't heard their name before."

Caleb lit the joint, taking a long drag off of it, and blew a puff of smoke. Almost instantly, his nerves started to calm down and he could think better. His hand stopped tapping against his leg so rapidly.

"You stayin' for a bit man?" the other asked.

"Yeah, probably," Caleb said. "Don't really need to go home smelling like spice."

"Well there's a dark-haired tall drink of water out there been asking about you," the man answered. "Don't know what her name is. She said something about hell when I asked."

Caleb looked up at him, and then took another, much longer, drag off the joint. "Figures she'd find me eventually," he said.

"Yo if you want to just go out the back," the man said.

Caleb shook his head. "She'll just find me again anyway," he said, and moved for the door. "Thanks."

The door closed behind him, and Caleb turned to the left, towards the front and main part of the establishment. The sound of the music was loud and pulsed through the floor. As he stepped out of the back, he headed for the bar. He could use a Plasma Jane anyway, and Caleb wasn't spending the time to go looking for Miss Hell, either.

She either came to him, or they weren't talking.

He was only sitting at the bar long enough to order one of those Plasma Janes before he heard her honeyed tones beside him.

"Well, well, _well_ ," she said, sitting down in the seat beside him. "Imagine running into you here."

Caleb looked over at her, and then rolled his eyes, taking another drag. "You know," he said, spewing a cloud of smoke, "I was under the impression nothing with you is incidental."

Miss Hell wrinkled her nose as the smoke wafted over to her. "Depends," she said. "It's not like I was looking for you or anything."

Of course she wasn't. "Since you're here I guess," Caleb said, "the fuck you want?"

Miss Hell's eyebrows shot up so far Caleb was sure they were going to fall off her face. "Since when do you talk to me like that?" she asked.

"Since I was high and didn't give enough of a fuck to think about it before I said it," Caleb said. "But seriously, you came over here for a reason, I presume?"

Miss Hell tilted her head. "We haven't seen each other in a while," she said, her voice going slightly husky. "Maybe I just wanted to see how you're doing."

Yeah, that wasn't what she wanted (she did realise _she_ was the one that taught him all those tricks, and they _did not_ work on him, right?). If she wanted to say otherwise, he supposed he could let her. The bartender set a Plasma Jane down in front of him, and Caleb gave a nod of thanks.

"Fine enough," he said.

"I don't know," Miss Hell said, leaning over a little. "You seem different somehow."

"Am I different," Caleb asked, "or are you?"

Miss Hell's eyes glittered in amusement. "Oooh, don't you go doing that now," she said. "You're not supposed to be making me think."

"I've heard thinking is a good thing," Caleb said.

"How are you and that spellcaster of yours doing?" Miss Hell asked.

Caleb didn't answer, turning away and drinking some of his Plasma Jane, and then taking another drag.

Miss Hell giggled. "Didn't I tell you it was doomed from the start?" she asked. "No one can love you like I do, Caleb."

Caleb glanced over at her. "You don't love me," he said.

"How do you know?" she asked, reaching over and resting an arm on his shoulder, fingers gently petting his cheek. "You're the only one that's ever mattered to me."

Caleb looked at her from the corner of his eye. "You loved to hurt me, that's all."

"That's what love _is_ ," Miss Hell said. "Isn't it? Just a beautiful excuse to get hurt, and to hurt someone else."

"I don't think that's how it's supposed to go," Caleb said.

Miss Hell smiled, turning him in his seat, raising his hand to her lips and taking a drag of spice.

He wouldn't admit how _interesting_ that was, even in his own head. She was playing with him, like a cat did with a mouse, that was all she ever did. Slowly, and oh so deliberately, she slid off her chair and into Caleb's lap.

"It doesn't _always_ hurt, does it?" she asked, her tone low, hands raising to his jaw.

"Maybe not," he said.

"Your spellcaster, does it always hurt with that one?" Miss Hell asked.

Caleb thought about it for a moment, and then shook his head.

"Doesn't it?" she asked. "I can love you like you need, Caleb. All you have to do is ask me. Even spellcasters don't understand us. But you're learning that on your own now, aren't you?"

His eyes met hers, and he knew what she was doing, as she leaned closer... he could just give in. When it was good with her, it was _good_ , and he knew it. She was right. No one had _ever_ loved him the way she did.

But the thought of Morgyn flashed through his head, and Caleb turned away. One hand reached over and downed the last of his drink, and then he pushed her out of his lap and onto her own seat.

"Why?" she asked. "You know Morgyn can't give you what I can."

Caleb shook his head, standing up and taking another drag. "You wouldn't understand," he said, and then he turned and melted into the crowd.


	5. Overthought Everything I Can Think Of

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I. Yeah. Um.
> 
> This one hurts a little bit, but it’s actually fairly tame. Liberty and Morgyn talked for freaking ever of course… because what else would they do…
> 
> I’m going to go back to writing, I’m trying to get to 57 by the end of next week.
> 
> Say My Name, ODESZA ft. Zyra

This wasn't going perfectly well, but certainly it was going better than Sarnai had been expecting. The barrier had begun to waver, and now it was only a matter of time until Sarnai figured out how to destroy it. On the other hand, one or the other of the spellcaster twins _should_ be able to bypass the barrier entirely. Why do all that work, Sarnai figured, when it would be much easier to simply side-step it outright? Work _smarter_ , right, not harder?

The dark-haired one was certainly very interesting. The blond one wasn't _uninteresting_ , but the dark-haired one had proven to be very powerful, powerful enough not to crumble in a fight against her instantaneously. For a spellcaster, that was impressive. He also wasn't as susceptible to her mind powers as most. He'd proven that when he'd resisted them for so long, and then it'd suddenly cut off. Sarnai was curious to know what he'd done, but then, she supposed it didn't terribly _matter_ what he'd done.

He'd proven to be a worthy enough opponent. Unfortunately for him, he was still too weak, but she suspected it had little to do with his actual innate power levels and more to do with something else. The last time they'd battled, he seemed to wear down much quicker than most usually would. Sarnai had no idea what that meant. And she supposed it didn't terribly matter, either, all things considered. Sooner or later, she'd have to figure out how to kill him. Or otherwise neutralise him, it was debatable which one she'd end up doing.

Maybe she'd just give him the honour of dying by her hand. He'd at least earned some peace.

Sarnai paced around the cave system she was working out of, thinking intently. If she couldn't get one or the other of these twins to come quietly, of course, she'd need a backup plan, and she wasn't certain the best one for that. Of course, she did have a sister, didn't she… yes, and that sister was a spellcaster, if Sarnai remembered correctly. Perhaps this sister may come in handy for moving beyond the barrier. Ah, of course, that sister didn't trust her very much, and truth be told, Sarnai couldn't care much either way. She had things to do, curses to reverse, that sort of thing.

There was a slight shift in the air, and Sarnai's gaze turned towards the cavern ceiling. She was getting about _sick_ of this one's interruptions, but she was proving useful. They had the same goal, no more, no less, and Sarnai held no love for the bitch. Neither did the bitch hold any love for her, though she seemed to think herself in charge of this operation, and that, simply, was not the truth.

Sarnai could snap her in two, if she felt so inclined. Thus far, to Aine's great fortune, Sarnai had yet to feel so inclined, but her patience _was_ beginning to wane somewhat thin.

The pale woman with blackened hair and silver eyes, so much like the dark-haired twin, stepped out of the shadows in a swirl of sparkling lights. Sarnai turned her gaze back to the cavern floor, and went back to pacing.

"You're not making very much progress very _quickly_ ," Aine said, stopping a few feet away from Sarnai and resting a hand on her hip.

"Of course we are not," Sarnai answered. "Do you know how many vampires have tried to break magic realm's defences? It is not exactly an easy task."

Aine's eyebrows raised. "That is surprising," she said. "I always figured the vampires didn't care."

"Oh, there is _always_ someone who takes offence to being told what to do and where to go," Sarnai answered. "Unfortunately, your All is stronger than any of us expected it to be, and just hammering it sometimes is enough to give one a migraine."

"You seem to be doing fine," Aine said.

Sarnai released a snort. "Of course we are," she said. "We are older than the All. It must try _harder_ to give _us_ a migraine."

Aine gave her some kind of look. "You sound so sure about that."

"We are," Sarnai said. "Now, do you mind? We are thinking."

"I need you to think faster," Aine said. "If the Embers unite against us, then you're never getting through that barrier because they will find a way to stop you, and the last thing we want them to decide to do is combine their magic."

Sarnai reared her head back slightly, looking down her nose at the spellcaster. "We will get there," Sarnai said, "when we get there."

"Yes, but you need to get there _faster_ ," Aine said.

"Watch your mouth," Sarnai said, her eyes flickering with a very slight glow. "We are _working_ with you, you do not command us."

"I could change that," Aine said, the threat obvious in her tone.

Sarnai's gaze narrowed, and she reached out with one arm, catching Aine around the neck and slamming her into the cave wall behind her. Aine loosed a squeak, hands raising to pull at Sarnai's hand.

" _Watch your mouth_ ," Sarnai repeated, a slight bit of a snarl in her tone. "You have thus far been useful, but don't push your luck, or your usefulness will run out." For just a moment, Sarnai pressed against her throat and then suddenly let her go.

Aine fell to the cave floor, gasping for air.

Sarnai turned away, walking back to where she'd been before, her eyes on the light streaming through the cavern ceiling. It was beautiful down here. Sometimes, the temptation to give up, and let it all go, was a little too strong. She'd been fighting for _so_ long. She was tired. But Ra needed her.

"You are a spellcaster," she said, glancing over her shoulder at Aine as the woman stood up, still breathing heavily.

"Yes?" Aine asked.

"How is it that _you_ cannot get through the barrier?" Sarnai asked.

Aine took a few more breaths, and then looked away. "The All has rejected me," she said. "The barrier won't open for me anymore."

Sarnai smirked. "You pissed it off?" she asked. "Oh dear. Isn't that awkward? What'd you do?"

Aine shook her head. "I didn't do what untamed sages are meant to do," she said.

Sarnai smiled, turning back to watching the light stream through the ceiling. "Well," she said. "We suppose we have more in common than we first thought. We didn't do what we were supposed to, either."

* * *

Ezio still hadn't spoken to the blond. Morgyn wasn't surprised by that, he seemed to be more hurt than usual, and Morgyn probably should've expected it. Morgyn just couldn't imagine choosing one over the other. And when the blond was _siding_ with Aine, it wasn't like that at all. It was just that, Ezio was usually the one that went claws out first. Then again, in hindsight, Morgyn had to wonder if it was really that Ezio was always losing his temper at her, or if it was more because she was always provoking it. Morgyn had never thought of it before.

Since Ezio wasn't talking to the blond anymore, and Morgyn didn't really know anyone else that lived in Spire, it took a few days, but eventually, Morgyn settled down in the seat beside Caleb one morning. Caleb glanced over at the blond, and then back at his homework. Morgyn tried not to look too crestfallen. If Caleb didn't want to talk to Morgyn, then the blond couldn't make him.

"Do you have a minute?" Morgyn asked.

Caleb shook his head. "Not really, but what do you want?"

Morgyn shrugged slightly, looking down at the table. "Someone to talk to, mostly," the blond answered.

"About what?" Caleb asked.

Morgyn looked surprised. "Ezio and I got into a fight," the blond said. "About Aine."

Caleb didn't look terribly surprised. "It was bound to happen eventually," he said. "You know Ezio never did like her."

"I know," Morgyn answered. "And I don't understand why."

Caleb shrugged, setting his pen down. "She did have a notable habit of making you pretty miserable."

And like always they did, when someone said something unflattering about Aine, Morgyn's hackles raised, and the blond almost started to argue with Caleb about that. But then, stopped, and thought about it. If Ezio wasn't the only one saying it, maybe there _was_ something to it. "You don't really believe that, do you?" Morgyn asked instead.

Caleb released a breath. "I'm just telling you what I saw," he said. "You'd spend any amount of time around Aine, and one of two things would happen. You'd either suddenly have a nasty attitude for a few days for no logical reason, or you'd become very depressed and devoid of any personality to speak of, no interest in anything. The same thing Ezio did after spending time around his less savoury boyfriends, come to think."

Ezio had said more or less the same thing. Morgyn sighed. "She just, she was a tough mentor, that's all," Morgyn said. "A lot of weird expectations to live up to and stuff, and sometimes it became too much but I'm stronger now because of her."

"Are you?" Caleb asked. "I have to wonder about that, sometimes, and I don't mean to be rude about it but I think you're _weaker_ in some aspects than you were fifty years ago. And I don't think that's a _coincidence_."

Morgyn frowned. "I just had to get over some things, that's all. She did mean well."

Caleb released another sigh. "In other news, you should tell Ezio to quit wearing dresses. He's got too masculine of a build for a dress, it does no favours for his figure and he just kind of turns into a weird, unnatural mess. I mean, what is he even _going_ for?"

Morgyn blinked, expression going almost completely blank. What? No, _what_? For a long moment, Morgyn was just confused, and then the rage bubbled up, and the blond's face twisted up in _fury_.

"Yeah," Caleb said. "There you go. Now you get it."

Morgyn must've looked even more confused around the indignant rage, because Caleb snorted.

"If I'd said it any nicer," he went on, "you wouldn't have reacted emotionally the right way to get the point. So if it's not okay for even _me_ to say that about Ezio, why was it okay for Aine to say it about you, _to your face_?"

Morgyn blinked, and some of the rage that had bubbled up petered out. And Morgyn thought about that, for a moment, though the blond was confused. In thinking of it, Morgyn could remember several times where Aine had said almost exactly that to the blond. She'd never said anything like that about Ezio, but Ezio hadn't gotten into makeup and wearing dresses until she was long gone, and to be honest, thank the stars for that much. Morgyn wasn't sure if the blond could've _handled_ that mess.

"I see," Morgyn said softly.

Caleb tilted his head. "You know," he said, "every time Ezio went after Aine, it was because she'd gone after you first. He wasn't just fighting with her, Morgyn. He was fighting her for _you_."

Was he? Morgyn's gaze went to the ceiling in thought, considering it. Every instance that came to mind, Morgyn had to admit, was right after Aine had said something hurtful to Morgyn. But the blond always figured it was a matter of being overly sensitive. Morgyn released a sigh, and fell over onto the table.

Caleb looked over at the blond. "It'll work out," he said. "Ezio still loves you, you know. I can see that."

Morgyn glanced up at him. "I keep messing up," the blond said.

"Yeah," Caleb said. "But everyone does that from time to time, and Ezio's never held that against you before. I don't imagine that'll suddenly change now. Loving and taking care of you is pretty much Ezio's only consistent personality trait."

Morgyn snorted. "I guess you're right, but that's not a very fair thing to say. He's also pretty consistently skittish."

Caleb loosed a snort, and then picked his pen back up. For a moment, he just stared at the patterning on it, and then looked up at Morgyn. "Morgyn," he said, "I think we should go back to being friends."

"What?" Morgyn asked, sitting up. "Caleb no, it's-we just had a little misunderstanding it's not worth giving _up_ over."

Caleb shook his head. "No, Morgyn, I just don't think we're as compatible as lovers as it first seemed like."

"I-I don't understand," Morgyn said. "We were happy, _you_ were happy-"

"No I wasn't," Caleb said. "And I can't ask you not to be you anymore."

"I-is this because of my work?" Morgyn asked. "I can-Caleb I'll stop, I'll figure something out, please-"

"Stop it," Caleb said. "It's that, and so many other things, and most of them are my own problem. Morgyn no one makes me happier than you do."

"Then why are you-we can figure it out," Morgyn spluttered, the tears falling before Morgyn even knew they were there at all.

Caleb smiled sadly, reaching up and taking Morgyn's face in his hands, his thumb brushing away the tears. "I'm tired of making you cry," he said. "You're the one for me, but I don't think I'm the one for you."

"What?" Morgyn asked, head shaking. "No, Caleb, that's not-you're not-"

"Hey," Caleb said, leaning over a little to catch Morgyn's gaze. "You'll be okay. It'll be just like it was before, just good friends again. And someday, you won't even remember we ever dated at all."

Morgyn wanted to argue more, but Caleb just patted the blond's cheek, gathered up his homework, and walked away. And Morgyn knew, then, that all the stories and the fairytales had lied. Love wasn't just a beautiful, wonderous thing. It was also a drowning emptiness, a kind of darkness that had no words.

Love was the most beautiful thing, and was also the most horrific.

* * *

Ezio was angry with the blond. Caleb had walked away. Lilith was busy doing whatever it was she was doing, Morgyn hadn't ever gotten the opportunity to ask. L and Simeon hadn't contacted the blond in so long it was a little bit ridiculous. Morgyn was starting to feel a little bit alone, but that wasn't anything new. Everyone had their own things they were dealing with and didn't have time for Morgyn's things, and that was to be expected.

Still, life moved on, even if it felt like nothing would ever be right again. Morgyn wanted to curl up in a ball in bed and never come back out again. Until the blond had become numb from the pain and nothing mattered anymore. But emotions didn't work that way. There was no 'off' position for them, though Morgyn had tried to find one over the course of many years.

The blond wandered around Britechester's campus, not going anywhere in particular, just loitering because no one would stop Morgyn from doing that. It was better to be out here, in the sunlight and slight breeze of spring, watching the flowers sway in the wind, than at home, where it felt like everyone was angry with Morgyn at once.

It'd be summer, soon. Only a handful of weeks or so, if Morgyn was remembering correctly, and classes would end for the summer. Morgyn would have to figure out what to do for the summer. Honestly, the blond saw a lot of drinking and fucking in the future. Morgyn had already been very temped to get drunk, find a bar and have a long night with a beautiful stranger, which they all were when Morgyn was drunk enough. But Ezio's words echoed in the blond's head. It only made it worse.

As the blond walked along, someone else came up and started walking beside Morgyn, and really, the scent gave away who it was. She had a very distinct rice scent to her, and something else but Morgyn had never really identified it. It was one of those scents that couldn't necessarily be identified in the first place, and if the blond had to guess, that was the scent that was _her_.

It was weirdly calming, and worked with the scent of the sticky rice very well.

"You look upset," Liberty said, kind of nonchalantly.

Morgyn took a breath in, and glanced down at the concrete as they walked. "I bet I do," Morgyn said. "Caleb and I broke up."

"Oh no," Liberty said. "I'm so sorry to hear that. Are you okay?"

Morgyn's head shook. "Not really," the blond said. "But I will be, I think, eventually. My brother's angry with me, too, just kind of feel a little alone right now."

Liberty pouted slightly, and then smiled. "Well, for what it's worth, I'm here," she said. "And I know it's not the same thing exactly but I hope it helps a little at least. Do you want to talk about it?"

The blond smiled slightly, though it didn't reach Morgyn's eyes. "I'm not sure what to say," Morgyn answered. "It all happened so fast, we were dating and things were going so great and I was so happy and I thought he was too. And then suddenly everything fell apart. I told him I'd stop working, if that was what he wanted, I love him more than I like making money, and I could quit university until I figure out how to pay for it, it doesn't matter. I meant all that."

Liberty frowned. "What'd he say?" she asked.

"He said I was the one for him, but he doesn't think he's the one for me," Morgyn said. "What the _fuck_ does that even _mean_?"

Liberty raised an eyebrow, and then her mismatched eyes turned up towards the sky. "Well, maybe he meant that he thinks he loves you more than you love him? Hmm. Oh, or, he feels like he doesn't live up to who he thinks you deserve in his head."

Morgyn glanced over at her. "That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard," the blond said. "I've loved him _for almost a hundred years_!"

Liberty blinked, eyes widening slightly, and she turned to look at the blond. "I'm sorry, how long?"

Morgyn glanced at her again, and then sighed. "I'm two hundred and seventy something," Morgyn said.

Liberty stared for a moment. "Oh." And then she stared some more. "… that explains why you're so quirky."

Morgyn snorted. "I'm sure it does," the blond said. "Wait, you're not bothered by that?"

"No," Liberty said, shaking her head. "I mean, it sounds like a bit much but I believe you. I mean, you did kind of make fire in front of me. I figure I'll just believe you until you give me a reason not to."

Once again, Morgyn was struck by how easy-going she was, and how quickly she just, _accepted_ preposterous things. Maybe internally she thought something differently, but she at least had the kindness not to show it.

"Say, out of curiosity," Liberty started, "does your Caleb happen to have dark brown hair, kind of longer on one side, bit spiky, grey eyes, really pale?"

Morgyn nodded, and then pulled the blond's phone out. Some flipping through, and Morgyn showed Liberty the screen, a picture of the two of them out on one of their dates. "That's him."

Liberty smiled. "You look so happy," she said. "We've met before, me and Caleb."

"Really?" Morgyn asked.

"Yeah, I kind of walked into him," Liberty answered. "We're not friends or anything, but we talk from time to time, mutually complaining about school, and sometimes he asks me where something is."

Morgyn considered it for a moment, turning the phone screen off and putting it back in a pocket. "If he lets you," Morgyn said, "please, be his friend. I think he doesn't really have any besides me, and he could use one. You make a good one."

Liberty smiled. "Well, I'm glad you think so," she said. "I can't make any promises, but, I'll try."

Morgyn nodded. "Thank you."

"So, am I supposed to be really good at magic?" Liberty asked. "I've never been really good at anything."

Morgyn looked amused. "You'll do fine I'm sure," the blond said. Liberty was one of the Li family, the oldest of the five families, and she wasn't terribly blooded out either, it was hard to imagine she wouldn't be decently good at magic. Maybe it'd take some time to adjust and learn, but Morgyn thought she could do it.

"Charity will probably be better at it than me," Liberty said. "The little sister is always better than me at everything."

Morgyn looked a bit wryly at her. "I think you'll be fine," Morgyn said. "But you won't really know until you try it." Come to think of it, Liberty _did_ have a sibling… "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure," Liberty said, glancing over at the blond.

Morgyn nodded over at one of the benches, and the two meandered over and sat down.

"I had a teacher, once," Morgyn said. "She was kind of like the mother I lost a long time ago, or at least, I really wanted her to be. … you know I'm transgender, right?"

Liberty blinked. "Hmm, didn't know for sure, but that makes sense, go on."

"Um, are you sure?" Morgyn asked.

"Oh come on," Liberty said. "You do magic and are two hundred seventy something, do you _really_ think it'll be the _transgender_ thing that throws me off? That is one of the most _mundane_ things you've ever said about yourself!"

"Too many forks or something," Morgyn answered.

"So are you he or something else?" Liberty asked.

"Um, he is fine," Morgyn said. "I don't really have any pronouns at all."

"Really?" Liberty asked, looking surprised.

"My brother, he avoids using gendered words with me entirely," Morgyn explained. "It's a lot harder in our native French, but works okay in Simlish."

"You're French, huh?"

"Yep," Morgyn said. "Je suis Francais."

"That's pretty neat," Liberty said. "I've always loved the sound of French words. _Baguette_. Anyway, you were telling a story about your teacher."

"Right, yeah," Morgyn said, smiling slightly. Baguette? Well, Morgyn supposed that sounded interesting to someone that didn't speak an Indo-European language. Anyway. "She didn't take the whole not being female thing very well. I'm not exactly transgender, it's more like I don't feel like either one, not really in the middle, not really both, but sometimes one or the other feels a little more right than normal. It's all a mess even in my head, but Aine always said that I was born a woman, and I would die one, too.

"I really wanted her to be proud of me. I think I did a lot of things I shouldn't have trying to earn her pride in me. Ezio never liked her. He always said she was hurting me and I didn't want to believe it because it felt like if I lost her then…" Morgyn breathed out. "I don't know. She and Ezio fought all the time. I hated it, because I cared about them both and I didn't know what to do with it so I blocked it all out. Ezio says that I would always defend her, and not him. And he's right. I never did defend him from her."

"That's why he's upset with you?" Liberty asked.

"Yeah," Morgyn said. "I don't know how to make this right. I'm afraid I can't."

Liberty breathed out. "How long ago was this?" she asked.

"Mm, Aine disappeared-er, sort of-about thirty… six? Years ago," Morgyn said. "Something like that."

"Well, it's been this long and it's only now coming up," Liberty said. "I think it's safe enough to assume Ezio loves you more than he's hurt. But he _is_ hurt, and I can understand why."

Morgyn frowned. "Could you explain it?" Morgyn asked. "I don't understand."

Liberty went quiet, for a moment, looking up at the sky. "Sibling relationships are complicated," Liberty said. "Charity and I seem to hate each other, you know, but even as harshly as we fight, we'd never hurt each other that way on purpose. I may not like it if someday she says that someone I care about is hurting me, I may not want to hear it. But I'd trust her judgement and understand that her heart's in the right place. It comes from a place of caring, Morgyn, a place of love, and if nothing else, he believed it. Telling him that he's wrong, or defending Aine from his accusations, it only tells him that you don't have any trust or faith in him. That you don't believe in him enough to try believing in what he believes. Does that make sense?"

Morgyn sighed. Yeah, that made sense. Damn it, why was Morgyn such an _idiot_? The blond's hands raised up and smacked Morgyn in the face a few times, before Liberty reached over and took them in her own hands.

"Come on," she said quietly. "It'll work out. He probably just needs some time to be hurt, before he can rationalise through it and forgive you."

"He's the only one that's ever believed in me, Libs," Morgyn said. "Damn it, what have I done?"

Liberty smiled. "Libs…" she said. "I like that. Hey, what you did is make a mistake. Just own it, and when he'll let you, try and make amends for it. All we can do is keep moving forwards."

* * *

It was hard to go through these, but, Morgyn wanted to better remember what things used to be like, when Aine was still there and Morgyn still loved her. These albums and scrapbooks were old and somewhat worn around the edges, but they didn't look to have been bothered in a long time. Like Morgyn had made them, and then put them in some dusty corner and forgotten all about them.

That, very likely, was the truth. It'd been too much, too painful, something, for Morgyn to bother looking at these once they were made, and some part of the sage wondered why. _Why_ were these too painful?

Morgyn flipped the first scrapbook open. The first set of pages were just mundane things, playing chess with Ezio (look at how weird he looked without all of his makeup), a very too-girly Morgyn holding a cup of coffee and talking to L by the stairs in magic realm. L used to be so pudgy, what a cute little squat young woman she'd been. Morgyn smiled slightly, reaching over with one hand, fingers running over the plastic protecting the picture.

This one down here was of Simeon and Ezio working on a potion together. The one below it, after it'd exploded in their faces. Morgyn laughed quietly under the blond's breath. If Morgyn recalled, that one had thrown Ezio off the balcony, but he'd transportalated back up quickly enough he didn't damage anything.

The blond flipped the page, smiling at the next set of images. This one here was after the group had spent too much time drinking, and decided to spend the rest of the night flopped over each other making funny faces. Ezio was the only sober one. Well, Drake was too, but he seemed to be absent in these. Maybe he had the camera.

There was one with Aine in it. She was sitting down in front of a cauldron, reading something, holding the book up in front of her face to block the camera. Morgyn frowned, and flipped through the pages. Most of these were lacking images of Aine, and when she did appear in any of them, she looked like she didn't want to be there.

Morgyn flipped through a few more pages, finding a _lot_ of pictures of Ezio and several of Drake, a few of L and Simeon, this one was Keisha and Ethren… there was one where Aine wasn't holding her hand or a book or something up to block the camera. She was doing something else, though, and Morgyn couldn't quite figure it out.

No, the blond knew _exactly_ what she was doing. Magic, it looked like, judging by the slight smudges on the photo that Morgyn thought were magical lights. But what was she _aiming_ at? Morgyn's green eyes follow the trail across the photo, and then smeared some of the dust off the plastic jacket. There was a cauldron right there. Oh, okay. Morgyn didn't remember this photo. When was this taken, anyway…

The blond pulled the corner of the plastic jacket up, sliding the photo out, and turning it over. The back of it read KODAK 1968. Yeah, Morgyn didn't remember this photo, and wasn't sure whose handwriting this was on the back. Morgyn couldn't even _read_ the handwritten part. That was strange. Maybe Ezio or Drake knew where this one had come from.

Morgyn's head shook, and the blond set the photo down on the stack of journals that Morgyn had also dug out of the back of the closet. But as Morgyn's thumb came off the photo, there in the corner, was a smudge of colour. Morgyn picked it back up, looking at it under the lamp light. It looked like someone's arm and shoulder, just past the cauldron, wearing a striped shirt. Morgyn couldn't tell what colour it was, the colours had faded so much by this point, but the blond supposed it didn't matter.

Maybe it was one of Aine's friends. That seemed like it'd be about right, thinking about it. Morgyn set the photo back down, going back to flipping through the scrapbook, but nothing changed. When Aine appeared in photos, and rarely did she, she looked like she didn't want to be there.

Morgyn loosed a sigh, closing the scrapbook and pushing it away across the floor. Morgyn then turned to the stack of journals, moving the befuddling image of Aine onto the scrapbook, and opening the journal that was on the top of the stack. All of these were Morgyn's old journals, from way back when. This one, Morgyn was dating its entries for 1966. The next one was 1967… Morgyn pulled the third one out, the entries dated for 1968, and flipped through it.

In the corners of the pages, Morgyn had made little doodles, stars and moons, swirls and Celtic knots. Morgyn smiled a little, seeing them. One of the pages had Ezio and Drake doodles in the corner. Surprisingly, they weren't kissing.

 _Aine said it again_ , the first line of that page read. _About how I'm a girl and I'll always be one. I mentioned it to Ezio on accident. He got angry. He didn't seem angry, outwardly, but I could see it in how he moved after that. He told me that I'm whatever I want to be, because human gender is more complicated than biological sex. I still don't understand what that means._

_Why does Aine always have to say things like that? I'm not saying male and female don't exist or are irrelevant, I'm just saying they don't feel right for me. It's not the same thing. And maybe I'm wrong, I don't know, I just know how I feel and I wish Aine would be more understanding of how I feel._

_At least Ezio doesn't think I'm crazy. At least someone believes in me._

Morgyn's eyes narrowed, unconsciously running a hand down the page. The blond skimmed the rest of it, flipping the pages. Most entries that mentioned Aine were very similar to that. Morgyn closed that journal, and then reached down towards the bottom of the stack, and pulled another one out. These were dated 1982, a few years before Aine disappeared. Well, Morgyn chased her out, rather.

 _I borrowed one of Ezio's shirts today,_ the first entry in it said. _Aine about had a cow. Something about how it was unflattering to my figure and it was too loose and it made me look like a weird, unnatural mess._ Caleb was right. She'd said that, word for fucking word. How had he remembered that, and Morgyn had forgotten it?

_Ezio didn't seem to mind any. Come to think of it, Ezio didn't seem to notice. That's weird. He should recognise his own shirts, one would think. Oh well, at least he won't think too hard about me borrowing his shirts. It's stupid, but, wearing his shirts, they smell like him, and I feel stronger, somehow. Like, maybe there's a little Ezio in me somewhere. He's the strongest person I know. And when I lose my way, it's him I look for to find it again._

Damn it. Morgyn closed the journal, setting it back on the stacks, and then stood up, pulling a jacket out of the closet and heading downstairs to the elevator.

Morgyn couldn't lose Ezio, not over this.

* * *

_I don't know what she's doing. The ghosts in magic realm, there used to be dozens of them. I remember some of them. I can't see them as well as Ezio can, but some of the older ones are strong enough that I can kind of make them out, as odd shaped blurs. They're vanishing, and all I know is Aine's eyes, they keep turning that sickly green colour._

_I've only seen that colour once before, when Ezio and I were very young. We'd gotten lost in the woods, and met some dangerous spirits. They were so angry, and powerful, I could see them as a little more than just odd shaped blurs. Ezio tried to calm them, but one went into him. Ice went everywhere, and I thought I was going to lose him, but his eyes turned that green shade, and he threw the spirit back out of him._

_It was the first time I'd ever seen him use his necromancy, and the last. It terrified me._

_She's using her necromancy, for something, and I don't imagine the spirits vanishing doesn't have anything to do with it. Ezio would never do that. I believe that._

_I believe it._

_I'm scared. I can't fight a necromancer. And I don't want Ezio to try doing it._

_Someone, anyone, please, help me._

* * *

He had to be here somewhere. Ezio had a class that ran late out here, Morgyn knew it, and the blond was hoping to catch him before he went home. Morgyn couldn't wait that long. Maybe he was right, about Aine, maybe he wasn't, Morgyn didn't know and didn't really care right now. What the blond cared about was him. Because no one else had ever believed in Morgyn so thoroughly as Ezio had, and Morgyn didn't want Aine to come between them.

Morgyn scurried from one end of campus to the other, trying to find any little thread of his magic the blond could sense. Ezio was usually very good at keeping a lid on his magic (Morgyn could use to learn that trick at some point), unless he was very upset, then it kind of leaked ice everywhere. It was a good thing Morgyn's didn't do _that_ , that could be disastrous. A slight little bit of chill in the air caught Morgyn's attention, and the blond turned towards it.

That was him.

Morgyn bolted that direction, weaving around the flowers, trying not to destroy them along the way. The blond turned a corner, and almost ran smack into Ezio. He stopped, looking surprised, and then breathed out, and moved around Morgyn, continuing on his way.

He really was upset. Morgyn frowned, but turned around and followed.

"Ezio," Morgyn said, "Ezio please talk to me."

He didn't say anything. He didn't even indicate at all that he'd heard anything Morgyn said. Morgyn understood why, but some part of the blond's heart broke a little more anyway. This was all her fault. If Morgyn had just listened to Ezio in the first place…

" _Please_ , I know I messed up, I just want to talk," Morgyn said.

And still, Ezio kept going, pretending that Morgyn wasn't there.

Morgyn stopped, watching him go. "Ezio _please_!" the blond said. " _Please_ you're the only one that's ever believed in me, and I haven't been making the right choices or being a very good sibling and I'm sorry! But I still need you! _Please_ , I need you, and I want to make this right, please."

"Stop it," Ezio said, pausing in his stride and looking over his shoulder. And for a moment, his face shadowed as it was, pale eyes lit by the setting sun behind him, Morgyn understood how so many people found him so intimidating. "I don't want to talk about this right now."

"Ezio…"

"It still hurts," Ezio went on. "And I have to find the ability through that hurt to forgive you, and I haven't yet. I will someday. But that day isn't today."

Morgyn's vision blurred, but the blond looked down at the concrete, trying not to start crying. He had every right to decide he didn't want to talk about this. Morgyn just needed him, that was all. But what Ezio needed right now, maybe it was a little more important. Morgyn's eyes squeezed shut, and Morgyn breathed to try and get some control over it, but then suddenly something slammed into the blond's side. Morgyn loosed a squeal, something exploding where the blond had just been, and then Morgyn and Ezio rolled to a stop.

Ezio looked up at something and _hissed_ , standing up and holding both hands out. Blades of ice formed in his hands, and immediately, Ezio disappeared.

"Wait _Ezio no_!" Morgyn shrieked, but he was already going after that blasted purple-eyed vampire. Morgyn loosed a breath, and then stood up and shot after them.

Ezio moved too fast for Morgyn to keep up with. The vampire was having a little more luck with it, but he was still injured from the last fight he'd gotten into with her. It was hard to imagine he could keep up with her for very long.

He was blending that martial arts skill he learnt a couple decades back into his fighting. It looked almost like an intricate, deadly dance. Morgyn's eyes couldn't keep up with them either, so the blond mostly stayed out of the way, occasionally throwing a burst of flame or helping block psychic attacks as they went. Morgyn was worried, because he was a little off-balance at the end of the last battle. It meant she'd pushed him far enough his heart was acting up, and the blond didn't know how it was going to behave for _this_ one.

Morgyn tried not to think about it too hard, instead, staying calm, and watching them move around. Occasionally, Ezio would throw an ice blade, and then use a teleporting skill Morgyn had never seen before to suddenly appear where the blade was. That was kind of nifty. Morgyn had to wonder if it was easier on his heart. The blond knew Ezio's heart didn't take well to consistent transportalation. It was only a handful of times he could use it in rapid succession before his heart started acting up.

The blond threw a burst of fire and the vampire dodged it; but Ezio redirected it with one of the blades. The vampire disappeared in a burst of mist, but not quite in time. She loosed a loud shriek, and then fell out of the mist. Ezio had redirected it to catch her arm on fire again. That did seem to be fairly effective.

She rolled around screaming a little, and then stood up, and disappeared. And Morgyn breathed out a sigh of relief. She was getting _insistent_ , and Morgyn wasn't sure how to feel about it. Was Ezio right? Had Aine sent her, or was she working alone? That was hard to determine.

Ezio wobbled and then fell, slamming one of the ice blades into the grass to catch himself. Morgyn squeaked and scurried over to him. He seemed okay, not very cut up this time, just tired.

"Ezio, are you okay?" Morgyn asked.

"Yeah," Ezio grunted.

"Thank you," Morgyn said.

Ezio breathed out, and shook his head. "No matter how angry you make me," he said, "I still love you, and I always will. I just need some space, and time." He paused for a moment, and then huffed. "And maybe some help getting back up."

Morgyn looked amused, then shifted around to support him.


	6. But the Pain Still Grows

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Listen. There is no sun up at 8:30pm in the springtime. What the actual fuck, Granite Falls???
> 
> I am also embarrassed to admit, I made it to chapter 49 before I realised my masochistic character, has masochistic tendencies. Saaa.
> 
> In the Air Tonight, Phil Collins  
> Also, I may change Drazio’s song to Come What May from Moulin Rouge. I don’t know. A Thousand Years is better suited to the Essairs. Choices. Decisions. Alas. I exist right now solely to act as a channelling conduit for the Embers, not to think.

_Magic Realm, 1984_

She was getting close, or at least, she hoped so. The reality was more likely that she _hoped_ so much that she could convince herself she was close enough. It was easier to think about it in such terms, because then the efforts seemed a little bit less wasted. But Aine had been at this for a long time, now, and it was difficult to think of it as having made _progress_ when it didn't seem there was any progress made at all.

Aine frowned to herself, then reached over, pulling out a sachet of herbs, reaching into it to drop some into the cauldron. As soon as her hand came out of the sachet, however, a burst of yellow light slammed into her hand, making her drop the herbs onto the floor. She looked up, and Morgyn-or what _looked_ like Morgyn-walked in the room.

"How did you find this place?" Aine asked. "I spelled the crap out of it."

'Morgyn' smiled. "We know where everything is in magic realm," the blond answered, voice echoing just slightly. "You will not hide from us, not here."

"Let Morgyn go," Aine said.

"We think not," the blond answered.

Aine took a breath in, and then turned and ran. A yellow barrier suddenly blocked her way, and she redirected, only to meet another one, and then another. Eventually, 'Morgyn' had her cornered by barriers, and looked positively amused. Aine raised her head, looking down her nose at the slightly taller spellcaster.

"What do you want?" she asked. "Come to kill me?"

"You're more valuable alive, you know this," 'Morgyn' replied. "But we'll make a deal. We'll leave you be, if you leave magic realm, and do not come back. Or we will destroy you."

"We?" Aine asked. "Making a habit of taking control of spellcasters? Is she even going to _remember_ this?"

'Morgyn' snorted. "Of course. Just not exactly this way, is all. But you want out of the pact so badly, here you are. Now you're out of it. Isn't that nice?"

Aine frowned, turning her head. "What's the catch? At what cost?"

'Morgyn' laughed. "Don't play stupid," the blond said. "You know what it means. If you don't do what untamed sages are meant to do, it will fall to the next one. And you should know who the next one is. But no matter. You'll get what's coming to you. In your shadow, he will grow stronger…" 'Morgyn' laughed again. "Foolish mortals."

"It's Ezio, isn't it?" Aine asked. Of course it was. Who else would it possibly be? Morgyn may want to think herself a boy, but she wasn't one and never could be, because she was born something else. Never mind that Ezio was far stronger.

"Is it?" 'Morgyn' asked.

"Damn you," Aine answered, eyebrows furrowing as she grit her teeth. These fuckers always did speak in riddle, and it was beyond annoying to try holding a conversation with them anymore.

"Do not mistaken our mercy for weakness," 'Morgyn' said, straightening up. Then, the blond shuddered just slightly. Morgyn was weakening under the strain. "And do not touch our destroyer, either. You'll regret it, every time you hurt him."

Aine's lips curled. "You know what your problem is?" she asked. "Your problem is you have a habit of not _asking_ people what they want. No one agreed to play the roles you gave them in your little games, you just decide some extraneous destiny for them to fulfill. You won't get what you want. If anyone will tell you where to shove it, and live to tell stories about it, it'll be an Ember. Heavens help you if you go and piss them both off at once."

'Morgyn' laughed. "Oh please," the blond said. "He will do exactly what we want. If, of course, he wants to save his precious magic realm, and his dearest twin, that is."

* * *

_San Myshuno, 2019_

He was still in a lot of pain. Honestly, he should've known better than to take that psychotic ass vampire on twice in such a short period of time, but as angry at Morgyn as Ezio was, he wasn't going to leave Morgyn to deal with something like that alone. It's not like Ezio didn't think the blond _could_ , it was just that he wasn't interested in taking the chance.

It was stupid, probably. Ezio knew that, and still, he did it anyway.

But, he'd move on from this eventually. The sting had already started to fade away, even if only because at least now, Morgyn seemed to have figured out why he was so upset about it. It was nice, that Morgyn at least cared enough to figure it out without too much prompting, though it did kind of require Ezio losing his _shit_ first…

Maybe it was best not to think about it too much.

Ezio shuffled into the computer room, settling down on the floor beside Drake's desk with a blanket and a book. Ezio wrapped the blanket around himself, folded down on the floor, and set to reading his book.

Drake looked down at him, somewhere amid his typing flurry, and then stopped. "… do you want to talk about it, or just sit there?" Drake asked.

Ezio glanced up at him and then frowned. "No. Yes. I don't know." He still mostly had no idea what he felt. How was he supposed to talk about it, if he didn't even know _what_ he felt? That seemed horribly unfair. And all the same, maybe talking through it would help him make sense of what he felt, too. It was all annoying, and complicated, and mostly Ezio wanted to take a bath and go to bed. The sun was, unfortunately, still up. He'd regret sleeping right now.

"That's valid," Drake said. "But you'll have to decide whether to do one or the other."

Ezio breathed out, putting a bookmark in his book, and closing it. "I know," he said. "You know, it's a little surprising that I'm still so angry about this."

Drake shook his head, sliding out of his chair and sitting down next to the Ezio-burrito. "I think it's the most logical thing here," he said. "Of course you're still angry. You have every right to be."

"Do I?" Ezio asked.

"Yes," Drake answered.

Ezio sighed again, shuffling around and lying in Drake's lap. He was coming to find that Drake's lap was one of his favourite places to be at any given moment, but it shouldn't be surprising. It was before. Now he had even more reason to be in it, and Drake always managed to make him feel safe. Ezio didn't figure that would've changed.

Just as he always did, every day that went by, Ezio loved Drake a little more.

"I just don't understand why I feel like this," Ezio said. "It makes it hard to explain how I feel to anyone else, because I don't really _know_."

Drake smiled slightly, somewhat rubbing his back through the blanket. "I know," he said. "You've been like that for as long as I've known you. But it's okay. You don't have to make sense of it right now."

Maybe he didn't. Maybe there was the time to think about it, and figure it out, and maybe there wasn't. Ezio didn't know, but he didn't suppose anyone did.

He was still vaguely in pain from taking on the psychotic vampire the day before (and a day or two before that). And if he moved the wrong way, it caused some of his cuts to suddenly reopen and neither Drake or Cassandra were taking that one terribly well. He tried not to move the wrong way, but sometimes he needed to get something on a shelf and could _technically_ reach it, and he just, instinctively did.

Yeah, he wasn't very good at being injured, was he?

Ezio dropped his head onto the floor. The blanket fell over his hair. "Damn it."

Drake blinked, shifting around so he could hear what Ezio was saying.

But Ezio raised his head. "I've loved you since France, you know."

Drake looked confused, and then smiled. "Why didn't you tell me?" he asked.

Ezio breathed in, looking down at the wood grain of the floor, thinking about it. How did he put this mess into words… that was a question he didn't always have an answer for. Ezio smiled slightly, and shook his head.

"I felt like, I was just in your way," he said. "That you could be and do and see things that I'd only ever dream of, and staying with me would just hold you back from that. So, I didn't want to make you feel like you had to stay. I couldn't ask you to stay with me forever, no matter how much I want you to. I just couldn't."

Drake's expression saddened, slightly, and he reached around, taking Ezio's hand in his. "I _want_ to, Ezio," he said. "I _want_ to stay. I decided to a long time ago. You didn't ask me to stay with you forever, but there was nowhere else I would've rather gone, there still isn't. I want to stay. I _chose_ to stay, I chose _you_."

Ezio smiled, and then he sat up, scooting into Drake's lap and clinging to him. He was still a little dizzy, if he sat up too fast, and his heart was a little delicate at the moment, but if he was careful… Ezio leaned backward slightly, and Drake instinctively reached out and wrapped his arms around Ezio's waist to keep him from falling. Ezio smiled slightly, and then leaned up slightly and caught Drake's lips with his.

Drake leaned into it. Ezio shifted closer, his arms draping around Drake's neck. On its own, Drake's tongue was in Ezio's mouth, and he made a surprised little pleased noise at the back of his throat. Ezio shifted his body against Drake's, and the vampire loosed a soft grunt, hands moving up Ezio's sides. He caught one of Ezio's deeper cuts wrongly, and pain shot down Ezio's spine.

The noise he made was probably utterly perplexing; somewhere between pained and pleased, almost a whimper-whine, back arching slightly, and Drake separated from him and looked startled. He looked not entirely sure if he'd hurt Ezio or not.

Ezio huffed, trying not to laugh at him. It was cute. "M'fine," he said. "It hurt a little, but not that much."

Drake looked a bit relieved, and then shook his head. "We shouldn't, anyway," he said.

"What?" Ezio asked. "Why?"

"You move wrong and start bleeding everywhere, Ezio," Drake said. "I'm not going to hurt you, even if it _is_ on accident."

Ezio squeezed his eyes closed. "You know, it doesn't really bother me," he said.

"It bothers _me_ ," Drake answered.

And Ezio couldn't argue with that. Of course it did, given how they'd met in the first place. Drake was the only one that knew about those twelve years in France, the only one that really understood. Ezio was an idiot if he thought Drake could ever be okay with hurting him, no matter _how_ Ezio reacted to it.

Instead of answering right away, Ezio shifted around, holding onto him with one hand, so the other could caress his cheek. "Okay," Ezio answered, softly. "We'll wait." After all, they'd waited this long already, another week or so wouldn't hurt anything. Drake was worth the wait, anyway, and if he'd be more comfortable waiting, then, that was as complicated as it needed to be.

* * *

Nobody had seen Caleb in a few days. Ezio was aware, by now, he and Morgyn had broken up, but seemed weird for him to just _vanish_ for a few days like that. Well, Ezio probably shouldn't stick his nose in it. Probably, Caleb just needed some time away from Spire, because Morgyn was here and it'd make healing a bit of a tricky thing, no doubt.

Ezio released a sigh, and went to making tea. For the most part, he was alone today; everyone else had things they were doing, Morgyn was in class, Cassandra had gone to see her parents, Drake had a book signing, Lilith was at the gym, and Caleb was missing anyway. It was nice and quiet, but Ezio thought maybe it was a little bit _too_ quiet. That was probably what happened, when you'd gotten accustomed to the noise of having five other roommates.

He kind of missed the days it was just him and Drake, before everything had gotten so fucking complicated, but nothing lasted forever, and sometimes, it felt like it was their inability to hold onto anything that made them keep moving. Ezio released a sigh, turning around and leaning against the counter. He was still healing, of course, so he shouldn't be doing anything too strenuous, but man he was kind of _bored_.

Having a bored Ember was never a very good thing, but he supposed it was what it was. Maybe he'd just go read _The Restaurant at the End of the Universe_ for the six billionth time, and most likely fall asleep doing it. Or he could go play with Mayor Whiskers. He'd presume the cat was as bored as he was, but incidentally, Mayor was better at entertaining himself than Ezio was.

It was what it was, he supposed.

Ezio turned back around, as the teapot started to gurgle, signalling that it was done. He reached over, pouring himself a cup of tea, then reaching over and getting a couple spoonfuls of sugar into it. Idly, he stirred it together, picking it up and turning around. But as he did so, he caught sight of something that he didn't expect to be there behind him, and visibly jumped, almost dropping his cup.

He set that down on the counter, before he _did_ actually drop it, and squinted at the ghost standing there. This one was fairly young, a child probably, maybe not older than ten or eleven, but maybe a bit younger. Ezio's gaze softened slightly, as he breathed and watched the young one. Frizzy dark curls framed the child's face, and they were a bit darker in skintone than Ezio himself was.

"Hi," Ezio said. "I wasn't expecting a visitor today."

The ghost giggled. "You should've been," the child said, a boy, it'd seem.

"And why is that?" Ezio asked.

"You're the bridge," he answered. "You are the safe one. Ghosts can only exist where it's dark, you know that, so lots of us are coming here, and you are the safest thing here."

Ezio frowned slightly. "Do you know why it's getting brighter in the dusklands?" he asked.

The ghost shook his head. "Not sure," he said. "But the moon cracked in the sky, and fire bled out of it."

That sounded like the start of a fairytale that ended somewhere around the knight on the white horse saving the princess from the tower.

"Maybe it happened in the dawnlands," the ghost suggested. "The dusklands and the dawnlands mirror each other, you know that. They're kind of leaking into each other through the in-between. I think maybe the in-between is all messed up right now too."

Right. Well, Ezio hadn't the faintest idea how to even _begin_ to fix that kind of mess, so that was nice. No pressure or anything. "Wonder if that's what's been destroying magic realm," he said, under his breath.

"No, of course not," the ghost said. " _That_ is the chaos."

"I'm sorry the what?" Ezio asked, looking at the boy.

The ghost made a face. "You're not very good at this for someone whose destiny this is."

"My what?" No, he heard the kid, it just didn't make any sense.

"Your _destiny_ ," the boy answered. "It's supposedly tied to the in-between, the chaos, the dawnlands and the dusklands and their trying to merge, all of that. I wouldn't really know specifics, though. You'd have to ask an older ghost. … hey, like that star whale that follows you around, I bet it would know."

Ezio tilted his head. "You can see it?" he asked.

"Of course I can," the boy answered, huffing. "It _is_ a ghost. … or didn't you know that?"

Ezio didn't answer, but he probably didn't have to.

"Wow, you're _really_ bad at this stuff," the boy said. "I should think the star whale doesn't know how to turn back into a person. So you may have to help it along."

Ezio released a sigh. "Right," he said. Jeez. "Fuck, I can't even _see_ it." The star… apparently it was a whale, had appeared several times for him, but he hadn't been able to see it clearly any of the times it had.

"You can't _see_ it?" the boy asked. "… wow, you're worse at this than I thought. Is it an old person thing?"

Ezio raised a hand to his head. "Just shut up, kid."

The boy looked a little bit annoyed, but he turned around and wandered off into the apartment. Ezio turned back around to his teacup, watching the liquid. He vaguely remembered something mentioning chaos before, but he couldn't remember where it was he'd heard or seen it mentioned now. If it was far enough back, maybe it was…

The book. Ezio took his teacup, and then scurried downstairs, into the computer room. In his desk drawer was the mystery leather-bound book that had attached to him a long time ago in magic realm, and refused to have gotten lost between here and there. Ezio never did fully puzzle this thing out, but he supposed he didn't really need to right this second.

The book seemed to agree, because it hadn't bothered him much since he'd moved out to San Myshuno. Granted, he'd had far more pressing issues at first.

He set his teacup on his desk, pulling the book out. As soon as it hit the floor, and could do so, it flipped itself open and turned to a specific page. Ezio squinted at it for a moment, but then the writing turned into Simlish.

_Everything is chaos, and chaos is everything._

* * *

Ezio didn't necessarily have the time to think about it too hard, what the book's statement really meant. It was difficult to say what it meant, and the funny, or sad, thing was that was the most straightforward the book had ever been before. Ezio wasn't really expecting much else of it, of course, but it _was_ a little hard to puzzle things out when the things giving him answers oft decided to give him more questions, instead.

And Morgyn, of course, didn't think it was a good idea to trust anything the book said, and Ezio kind of had to agree. Unfortunately, it was the only way he was getting any answers, at least at the moment, and any answers right now was better than none. It wasn't as if Ezio had any _other_ ideas about what to do here.

As it was, Ezio was curious how magic realm was doing. Morgyn still didn't seem to have noticed anything was even _wrong_ in magic realm, probably because Ezio was still redirecting All traffic to himself, so to say (he still had no idea what he'd done or how to undo it), and never mind the blond had plenty of other things to be worried about right now. So, Ezio had made the journey out to Glimmerbrook.

At least his Glimmerstone would teleport him to _Glimmerbrook_ , if not magic realm. When he tried going to magic realm with his stone, it'd hummed slightly and then changed its mind. Apparently the rock's fucks were not currently being involved in that mess.

Ezio shuffled over to the gateway at the top of the waterfall. It was still boring and silent, the shimmers of colour that were meant to be there still eerily absent. Ezio went over to it, one hand reaching out and running along the side of the archway. His head tilted back, as he looked up at the symbols at the top. They weren't glowing like they usually were.

He released a sigh, pulling his phone out.

 _Are you and L okay?_ he typed out, and sent to Simeon's cell number.

His phone immediately returned a message about that number being unable to receive text messages. Ezio cussed under his breath, and tapped the call button, raising his phone to his ear. It rang for about five seconds before the voice mail picked up. Ezio cursed again, hanging up and tossing his phone back into his pocket.

Nothing went in, nothing came out. Just like Morgen had said.

For a long moment, Ezio stood there, the water rushing around his heels, watching the archway. The sound of footsteps sloshing through the water caught his attention, and he turned around. Emilia smiled at him.

"Hey," he said.

"Hi," she answered.

"How are you doing?"

Emilia shrugged slightly. "I'm doing okay," she said. "Broke up with Darrel, moved out, enrolled in university. That sort of thing."

Ezio snorted. "You never did seem terribly happy with him," he said. "Not unhappy, just not happy either."

"Yeah," Emilia said. "Your friend knocked him into a vampire coma and things got a little clearer suddenly."

Ezio made a face. "My friend?"

"Lilith," Emilia said.

"Oh," Ezio answered. "She never mentioned it."

Emilia looked amused. "I told her if she'd just gotten Morgyn to talk to Minerva, everything would've been fine," she said. "Lilith said something about how she fixes her own problems."

Ezio looked awfully put upon. "Yep," he said. "She wasn't lying about that at least." Lilith was terrible about taking things on by herself. But for that matter, so the fuck was he. Maybe that was how they'd ended up friends. They were alike in a few choice ways. "Hey, this thing ever reopen?" he asked.

Emilia shook her head. "It hasn't, not since the time you and I got out of it," she said. "Minerva can't tell that it doesn't work, though. I'm not sure about anyone else, but Darrel and Gemma don't seem to have noticed anything off about it either."

"She doesn't know?" Ezio asked, tilting his head.

"As far as I can tell," Emilia said, "she can't see that it isn't active. And she goes into it, the portal somehow turns her right back around, so she goes in and comes back out, and she thinks she's gone to magic realm and come back."

Ezio frowned, turning around to look at it. That was an odd effect, but if it was trying to pretend to the outside world that nothing was wrong… of course, pretending to the _inside_ world that nothing was wrong may be trickier, but then, there was also the matter of everyone he spoke to that had spent large amounts of time in magic realm spoke like their thoughts weren't entirely their own.

Actually, what Simeon said, and then forgot… something about how that boy of L's was getting her all confused. No, no the other thing, the thing about there were times when he came to magic realm and didn't seem to know why he was there at all. That was a strange thing. Of course, with the vampiric mind control rampant right now, it was possible that was _her_ doing, whichever her it was, but it was kind of far-fetched to think she could manage to do mind control _through_ magic realm's barrier.

So this was one of two things; either the barrier's weakness was indirect attack and vampiric mind control could go through it, or the All was responsible for everything because it had decided to lock magic realm down. Well, Ezio supposed there was a _third_ option-it was a little of column A and a little of column B.

"I don't suppose you're watching it anymore, now that you're in university?" Ezio asked.

Emilia shook her head. "Not really," she said. "I could come by on occasion and check on it I suppose."

"I can, too," Ezio said. "I'll do it then. But thank you, for the offer."

"I hope you can figure this out," Emilia said, looking up at the archway's top. "But if anyone can, I figure it'll be you."

* * *

This was a mess. And Morgyn still wasn't entirely ready to listen to him, either, so he was right, and he and Lilith were on their own for now. He understood, really, he did. Morgyn never knew what to do about he and Aine fighting all the time, and it made sense the blond would've eventually blocked it out for lack of knowing what else to do. It didn't take the sting away.

Everything Ezio had ever done, he'd done for Morgyn. That was his choice, and he didn't blame Morgyn for the choices that he had made. Neither did he regret them. But he didn't think listening to him was a lot to ask for. In general, not even just in return for everything he'd ever done for Morgyn.

Ezio shuffled along the road, making his way back home to San Myshuno. It wasn't a long walk, and he could use the exercise, though he was still a little sore, and the time to think about this on his own. Ezio was always like that, needing to think about things before he knew what to say, or how to say them. It was part of why he was so terrible at expression. He had to figure things out in his head.

Morgyn expanded outward, Ezio pulled inward. It was a strange thing. They were exactly the same, and complete opposites.

Ezio sighed softly, and then realised he'd tread a little bit too close to Granite Falls. Something was in there, protecting the forest, and it didn't like _occults_ wandering in, most of the time. Particularly, it didn't like _vampires_ , but it was known to decide it didn't want certain spellcasters around either. Ezio wasn't sure if he'd be welcome or not, so he stopped rather abruptly, and then shuffled around it.

But even as he did, it felt like something was calling to him. Something beyond Granite Falls' borders. Mist flooded the grasses, curling around his ankles. Ezio stepped backward. The mist moved beyond the border, like it wanted him to follow it and do the same.

Ezio frowned, slightly. A glimmer of black and pinpricks of colour at his ankle caught his attention, and Ezio looked down, finding Mayor Whiskers weaving around his legs.

The cat meowed at him, and then took off into the forest.

"Wait!" Ezio squeaked, and then scrambled after the cat. (When did he even _get_ here? Never mind.) Against his better judgement, he went right into the mist, but somehow, the mist seemed pleased about it.

Mayor meowed the entire way, and Ezio just followed the cat's sounds when he couldn't quite see him anymore. The mist thickened, eventually, and Ezio kept following the cat's sounds. And then the sounds seemed to come from everywhere at once, and Ezio stopped, glancing around. Then, he closed his eyes, sensing around for the pull that he knew was his bond to Mayor, and followed that, instead.

And when he found him, he was in a dusky-skinned woman's arms, one hand scratching his chin. Ezio tilted his head.

"Keisha?" he asked.

The woman giggled, and then turned to look at him. It _was_ her. "Yes," she said. "It's good to see you. And you sure have a very polite little gentleman for a familiar anymore."

"He did find you," Ezio said, releasing a breath he hadn't been aware he was holding in the first place.

"So he did," Keisha answered.

"It's nice to see you too," Ezio said. "You're the hermit, aren't you? The white witch everyone tells stories about."

Keisha giggled again. "I do seem to be, yes," she answered. "You know, I don't usually mean to frighten anyone." She leaned over, setting Mayor Whiskers back down on the grass. He went over to lean against Ezio's leg.

"It's always the people that don't _mean_ to that do," Ezio said.

Keisha laughed. "Of course it is," she said. "Now, let's see here… if I'm remembering correctly, you're probably wondering what the heck is up with the portal to magic realm… we _did_ get there, right?"

Ezio raised an eyebrow, tilting his head slightly. "Yes," he answered. "The portal doesn't work anymore. Neither do Glimmerstones."

"Oh right, yes," Keisha said, her eyes lighting up. "Glimmerstones are shards of the All, you know. If the All decides, it can just sweep-deactivate all of them. Oh, but that's not the information you need is it… let's see here…" Her hand raised, a finger tapping against her lips.

Ezio started to say something, but she held her other hand out.

"No no," she said, "don't tell me, I'll remember in a minute."

Ezio had to wonder if she would. Well, while she was over there humming and hawing and thinking, Ezio glanced around. Not far away were little flickers of multicoloured lights. Ah, no, those were rainbow fireflies, weren't they.

Granite Falls was beautiful at night, if a little disturbing all the same.

"Aha!" Keisha said. "You need to know a number of things actually, but I suppose we can start with what exactly the All is doing."

"It's blocked off magic realm," Ezio said. "Because of a vampire trying to break through the barrier."

"Oh," Keisha said, deflating slightly. "Okay, next thing then, you probably want to know why a vampire would want through the barrier."

"To get to the All," Ezio said.

Keisha's lips shifted to the side, and her eyebrows furrowed. "Okay," she said. "Then, _what_ is it you need to know? I don't know where we are now."

Ezio smiled slightly. "I think I just need to know how to get into it when the All's blocking it."

"Ah, no," Keisha said. "You, _you_ , you need to know something else, not what you _think_ you need to know. You're the bridge."

"You know about that?" Ezio asked.

"Oh of course I do," Keisha said, waving her hand. "I'm the one that said it first. You were born the bridge and you will die the bridge, but perhaps, you may need to know what that means. And, what exactly the All _is_."

"It's the source of all magic," Ezio said. "Every spellcaster knows that."

"Do you remember the old adage?" Keisha asked. "History is written by the victor, Ezio."

"And it's false?" Ezio asked.

"Some of it," Keisha said. "Mistakes were made. Lives were lost. And some of those responsible decided to bury it and pretend it didn't happen. Almost quite literally. Now, this will be a long story, and it demands some tea."

Keisha reached over, taking his hand, and led him into the forest.


	7. Doomsday

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What. An. Idiot.
> 
> What an idiot.
> 
> It’s my bed time but I got two chapters done today and we are very close to being where I want us to be. Hopefully I can have us there tomorrow. I keep hoping the kids will explode in words and we can get 40k in one day again (I often finish NaNoWriMo’s first day with around 30-40k words, yeah I don’t really recommend typing that much in one day unless you are ready for that Commitment). They have not thus far done so, it is really quite tragic.
> 
> Of course, this one Ezio kept stopping because he was having a really long drawn out moral debate. Lol There’s more pov shifting here than usual because we had a lot to get through.
> 
> Fun fact, 14 chapters left and we’re done with TMA again, finally. Fawk.
> 
> Doomsday, Murray Gold (from Dr. Who)

With the music pulsing through the floor, it was easy to forget how messed up his life had suddenly gotten. He'd lost the only thing that'd ever really mattered to him, at least, besides Lilith, and it was his own fault and the reality was, he knew that. And yet, it was for the best, all the same. Caleb couldn't be what Morgyn needed, he didn't think. Truth be told, he didn't even know _what_ that was, but he was clearly not it.

Caleb downed some of his Plasma Jane, sitting at the bar and watching the dance floor. He had no rhythm to speak of, at least, not for dancing, so he stayed where he was, watching the other patrons of the bar dance. Some of them were quite skilled, and, from time to time, they'd get the Spin Masters out on the floor. That was always a fun time, though they had a nice side-effect of making him feel even _more_ self-conscious about his dancing.

As he watched the other dancers, his hand raised to his lips, and he took a drag off his joint. He didn't stay in Spire for very long anymore, partially because if he did so, he had the feeling Miss Hell might follow him back there at some point, and partially because he didn't really want to be at home smelling strongly of something that wasn't normal to smell of.

Somewhere amid watching the dancers, and taking another drag, someone sat next to him. He didn't even need to glance at her to know that was Miss Hell; she had a notably strong perfume she liked to use. It would've been less annoying, _pleasant_ , even, if he wasn't a vampire and it wasn't so damned strong to him.

"Change your mind yet?" she asked coyly.

Caleb snorted. "No," he answered. "And I don't intend to change my mind, either."

"I see," she answered. "You and I both know Caleb, Morgyn's better off without you. What else do you have, then, if not me?"

"Lilith," Caleb answered.

"She won't be enough, either," Miss Hell answered. "She can't love you the way you need to be loved, if only because she's your sister. And there's nothing wrong with wanting… _companionship_."

"I don't need it," Caleb said, taking another drag, and purposely blowing the smoke in her face.

If she noticed he'd done that on purpose, she didn't show it. "Of course you do," she said. "Everyone does in some manner. Humans _are_ social creatures, and everyone knows you're more human than vampire."

The 'and that is pathetic' graciously remained unspoken, but he heard it in her tone all the same. Or maybe he heard it in his head. She _was_ his sire and all, it stood to reason she'd be able to do that sometimes. Which did lead to wondering if she was fucking with his _head_ , because that would be right up her alley. Certainly it sounded like something she'd do.

Caleb kind of side-eyed her, then took another drag. "Maybe I am," he said. "And maybe I'm not. It's not really the point. The point is, I don't need anyone."

Miss Hell laughed quietly. "Oh honey," she said, reaching over and brushing her fingers against his cheek. "It's okay to need people too. But you've gotta need the right people."

Caleb snorted, moving his head. "And let me guess," he said. "You're the right people."

"People like you," she said, "with all their delicate pieces and tendencies to believe the wrong things and in the wrong people, need people like me. I can keep you safe. I can stop all of this pain from ever happening again, and the only pain you'll ever feel again is my teeth."

Yeah, right. Caleb didn't believe that, because she had a habit of hurting him in other ways besides the physical ones. Those too, though. He had a few scars from her that'd never gone away.

It took a _ridiculous_ amount of _something_ to _scar_ a _vampire_.

"Yeah, I don't think so," Caleb said. "I'm fine on my own. Go bother Markus, maybe he'll play entertainment for you."

Miss Hell smiled that golden honey smile, taking his hand in hers. She took a drag off his joint again, and then slid into his lap, just like the last few times they'd talked. All the little charms were on at once, and Caleb was both fascinated at how quickly she could turn them all on, and a little bit revolted at how easy it was for her. Like it meant nothing at all, and the fact of the matter was, it probably didn't.

And the not so dull ache in his chest made him hold still this time, as she did what she always did, ran her hands up his chest, leaned over with that mischievous glint in her eyes. He didn't turn away, either, when her lips met his, and he remembered she tasted like blood and danger, which he both found fascinating and _hated_.

Still, he didn't _want_ to push her away, he wanted her against him, _someone_ against him, he wanted the touch of someone else, he wanted _Morgyn's_ touch, but that was a long gone pipe dream. He wanted Morgyn so badly it was like a buzzing under his skin, and for some reason, he didn't push her away, though he knew he should. Instead, he reached over and gently tilted her head slightly with his fingertips, and his tongue dove into her mouth.

She loved every second of it, happily reciprocating, shifting in his lap to grind against him, and Caleb found it took a lot of control not to throw her against the bar and fuck her right there. He could almost taste her desire, and it was turning him on, but like it always did, thoughts of Morgyn flashed through his mind. Abruptly, he backed up, separating from her, and shoved her back into her seat.

"Damn it," she huffed, breathing slightly irregular. "I will eventually get you to submit to me. I've managed it before, Caleb, and I will do it again."

Caleb stood up, finished off his Plasma Jane, took a drag off his joint, and walked away. She always said that. And he always resisted her.

* * *

If he hurried, he could get to the library before it got too crowded, and maybe get some things done without the peanut gallery enforcing the illogical and irrelevant separation of Laurel into dragon and lobster sides (seriously?). Ezio still had a little bit of coursework left before the end of term, and his graduation, and now would be a really terrible time to start failing. He intended to do everything in his power _not_ to fail, but it was turning out more difficult this last term than it had been the entire rest of his time in school.

Ezio gathered up his books, shoving them into his messenger bag, finished off his tea, and then headed for the front door. "Be back in a few hours!" he called, more for Cassandra and Drake's benefit.

"Okay!" Cassie's voice answered from the dining room. "Be safe!"

Yeah, he'd sure try. But somehow he had a feeling Morgyn was going to start having fewer issues with Sarnai, and he was going to end up with more. With any luck, she'd give him long enough to mostly recover from being thrown around Uptown and crashing through _glass_. (On more than one occasion, Cassandra and Drake had threatened to take him to Troi if he didn't quit moving around so much.)

He scurried out into the entryway, pressing the button for the elevator. There were apartments on the lower floors, but for the most part, the elevator was rarely ever hung up for long. It came within a few seconds, dinged, and Ezio stepped in, pressing the button for the ground floor.

"Wait a second," Caleb said, stepping out and heading for the elevator, too.

Ezio reached out, stopping the doors from closing, to let him in. As soon as he'd made it, Ezio let go, and the doors closed, and the elevator headed down.

"Thanks," Caleb said.

Ezio smiled. "You're welcome." He smelled just slightly of smoke and something else, but that wasn't normal cigarette smoke, he didn't think. Why would Caleb smell like smoke? It seemed kind of rude to just lean over and breathe in right next to him, so Ezio didn't do that, resting his hands on his messenger bag. He had no idea what to say to Caleb anyway, so maybe it would be better if they didn't talk at all.

Of course, Caleb did have a habit of asking him for advice, because no one understood Morgyn the way Ezio did, but he really hoped Caleb wouldn't. He wasn't sure what to tell him, except, 'stop being an asshole'? Was that even proper advice to begin with? Ezio was thinking, no.

They rode in silence, though Caleb kept glancing at him. Ezio pretended not to notice. The elevator came to a stop, and the doors opened. Ezio moved to step out, but Caleb grabbed his wrist and pinned it against the elevator wall.

Ezio sucked a breath in out of surprise, but when his grey eyes met Caleb's, strangely, he didn't feel terribly afraid of him.

The elevator door closed. Caleb didn't look away, and neither did Ezio. Then, Caleb reached up, and gently pulled Ezio's glasses off. Ezio blinked a few times, but the blurriness didn't quite go away, of course. It was kind of a shame. Caleb's eyes were gorgeous, and Ezio rather liked being able to see them clearly. It might also help for figuring out what in the fuck he was _doing_.

"You," Caleb said, almost under his breath, "are _ridiculously_ beautiful."

Wait, _what_? Okay wait a minute, of course Caleb thought that because Ezio looked _exactly_ like Morgyn, okay, yeah, that made sense. Alright. That explained in his head, Ezio squinted slightly.

"Uh, thank you?" he said, his tone making it more of a question. "Are you going to let go?"

"Yes," Caleb answered. And then didn't let go. It was starting to hurt a little, but he didn't think Caleb was doing it on purpose.

All the same, he could feel his stress response start to react. But something in Caleb's eyes, the way he was talking, it was very weird for him. Ezio breathed in through his mouth slightly, and caught the slight tang of something weirdly familiar in that smoke scent Caleb was giving off.

Alright… what was he on? Ezio was familiar enough with the tang of drugs to be able to recognise that as one. It was right there, but he couldn't say off-hand what it was, and Ezio didn't think _asking_ was going to go well.

"Ezio, I-" Caleb started, but cut himself off again. Then, he handed Ezio his glasses back. Ezio slid them back on. "Never mind. I'm sorry."

Caleb let his wrist go. It fell suddenly, and Ezio caught it, and then Caleb turned away. Ezio reached over, taking his hand. Caleb turned back around, looking a bit confused.

Ezio had never been afraid of Caleb, and he saw no reason for that to change now. "Caleb, are you…" Ezio trailed off slightly. "Okay? Are you okay?" That was a very good question about now, because no, he didn't think Caleb _was_ okay.

And then suddenly, Caleb shifted and pinned him against the elevator wall, this time with his entire body, and Ezio barely registered it before Caleb's lips were on his. Come to think, if he could _taste_ it, he might be able to figure out what it was. It only took a slight nudge, Ezio parted his lips and Caleb immediately took the invitation and dove right in. Ezio was paying attention to the flavour; the drugs he was on, not him, though he found he strangely didn't mind him, either. Ah, actually, Ezio thought that it tasted distinctly like synthetic cannabinoids.

Oh man, that'd be really fucking with his anxiety. But it wasn't unheard of for people to end up doing synthetics trying to _deal_ with anxiety, and Ezio could absolutely see Caleb falling for it.

The fuck was he going to _do_ with this? One thing at a time, Caleb was all over him right now and Ezio wasn't sure how far he wanted to let him go. Caleb was high as fuck, if he still tasted this strongly of the shit (hopefully it didn't give _him_ a high, too), and Ezio didn't think consent was really possible when one was this high. On the other hand, Caleb's hand just went down his pants, and clearly he knew what he thought he wanted.

What were the rules for this anyway? He was pretty sure it was bad form to fuck your twin's ex-boyfriend. It was made even worse by the reality that Morgyn was still in love with Caleb, and Ezio knew that. Not that Morgyn was a _jealous_ type, so maybe it would be just fine. Just a couple friends shagging each other because one really needed the intimacy, or something like that, right? It wasn't like it _meant_ anything, and Caleb was probably only interested in him because he looked so much like Morgyn.

(Everyone always _fucking was_.)

But then it would be upsetting, probably, if Caleb fucked _him_ first before Morgyn, all things considered. And then there were Drake and Cassandra to consider. They didn't mind _each other_ , but they hadn't exactly had the conversation about what to do if Caleb started kissing him like it was from Ezio that he drew breath.

Shit fuck mother fucking unholy god damn it.

It took some shoving, but Ezio got Caleb separated from him. And the hurt in his eyes from just that, it was almost enough to make Ezio's heart hurt. Shit, that wasn't something he'd considered just yet; he could _seriously_ hurt Caleb's feelings telling him no, but…

"Caleb, not here," he said. Right, yes, okay, redirect him somewhere else, and maybe Ezio could figure out what to do from there. Crap, though, Caleb had started to get him turned on.

Caleb was breathing a little hard, but he turned away, eyes darting around the elevator, and then he wrapped his arms around Ezio's waist.

"Teleport," Caleb said.

Ezio looked up at him. "Where?"

"Rattlesnake," Caleb answered. "In Oasis Springs."

Ezio nodded once, and before he could think about it too hard and linger too long, pooled his magic, and teleported them.

* * *

"Wait, Caleb-"

There was almost no point in making any noise about it, because Caleb hardly paid it any mind. Ezio wasn't terribly surprised, given this was a very high, and very upset Caleb. They'd gotten where they were going, apparently a hotel not far from Rattlesnake, and Caleb wasted no time practically throwing Ezio onto the bed and kissing him stupid, or _really_ trying.

Lord knew the poor boy probably needed the closeness and the warmth, and Ezio looked so much like Morgyn it was probably quite easy to convince himself the difference didn't matter. Or maybe he was so far fucking gone he _couldn't tell_ there was a difference.

Ezio didn't want to hurt him, though, either emotionally or physically. Sure, Ezio could get him off him, no problem, but he could hurt Caleb along the way.

Almost instinctively, Ezio shifted around under him, trying to scoot out from under Caleb without having to shove him off first. Caleb grabbed his wrist and held him down. Panic started crawling up Ezio's spine, but he closed his eyes, took a breath in, and another… it was Caleb. He'd never been afraid of Caleb before…

As gently as he could, Ezio pushed Caleb upward. Caleb at least separated from his lips, and stared at him in confusion.

"Not now," Ezio said. "Not with you like this."

"Like what?" Caleb asked. "Morgyn please…"

Ezio closed his eyes for a moment, and breathed out. That stung. But he didn't _think_ Caleb knew who the fuck he was, nor did he think Caleb was sober enough to know who the hell he was in bed with. The truth was, if they slept together, it'd just overcomplicate everything, and they'd _both_ probably end up feeling _terrible_ about it. Ezio didn't want that. They both deserved better than more regrets and bad memories.

"You're high," Ezio said, brushing Caleb's hair out of his face.

"No I'm not," Caleb answered.

"Count to ten," Ezio said. "If you can do that then we'll talk."

Caleb made a face. "One… five, nine, ten."

Ezio smiled. "Come here," he said.

Caleb immediately attempted to go back to kissing him, but Ezio gently pushed him back again. "No, hold me," he said. "And lose this." Ezio reached over and pulled Caleb's shirt over his head, then his own. There were a few bandages still around his chest and his waist from slamming into things, but they were all still off-white. He hadn't torn anything open recently, thankfully. Some shifting around, and Ezio then held his arms out.

Caleb looked a little confused, but then slid his arms around Ezio, and laid down on his chest. Almost immediately, he seemed to relax a little.

"See?" Ezio said softly, one arm draping over Caleb's back, the other raising so that Ezio's fingers could get lost in Caleb's hair. Gently, he slid his fingers through the strands. "There are ways of being intimate without sex."

Under his gentle touch, Caleb seemed to kind of melt into him. But he was calmer, and quieter, and he wasn't trying to get into Ezio's pants, either. Absently, Ezio started humming under his breath, a song his and Morgyn's mother used to sing when there were storms and they couldn't sleep. His hands sparked with magic, layer after layer of spell going into Caleb's hair.

And just like that, Caleb passed out. If Ezio remembered rightly, he had trouble with nightmares. The spells would keep him from dreaming. Ezio reached into his pocket, sending Drake a text message to tell him that he wouldn't be home tonight, set it on the side table, and curled around Caleb almost protectively.

The sunlight streaming through the windows was the next thing Ezio was aware of. Caleb hadn't moved all night, and Ezio hadn't moved much, either. Caleb was at least still breathing, soft little puffs that almost tickled Ezio's arm. He was an early riser, so it didn't surprise him that he was awake before Caleb was. Of course, Ezio wasn't entirely sure how long he'd just knocked Caleb out for, either, but he should be waking up soon.

Idly, Ezio pet his hair, watching the sun come up over the horizon. Oasis Springs wasn't his _favourite_ place to be, but he didn't dislike it, either.

Eventually, Ezio didn't know how long it was, Caleb began to stir. He moved slightly, nuzzling under Ezio's chin, stretching his legs out. If Ezio remembered right, waking from those knock-out spells was kind of slow-going, but that was why Ezio had chosen those, at least in part. Then, Caleb suddenly jolted awake, looking up at Ezio in surprise.

"You… are not who I was expecting," Caleb said.

"I'm quite sure," Ezio answered.

"Oh fuck, I just fucked Morgyn's brother," Caleb said. "Oh god. I am so sorry."

"No," Ezio said. "It's fine. We didn't actually do anything. … okay you kind of kissed me like you were trying to suck out my soul a lot, but I didn't let you go further than that, it's okay."

Caleb kind of loosed a sigh of relief. "Thank god."

"No, thank me," Ezio said. "So anyway, you're on spice."

Caleb sat up, turning away to watch the sunlight filtering through the window. "How'd you know?" he asked.

Ezio snorted. "I did tell you I used to deal, right?"

"Yeah, I guess you mentioned that," Caleb said.

"It has a distinct taste," Ezio said, sitting up and scooting over to sit on the edge of the bed with him. "You do know what that stuff does to you, right?"

"I'm a vampire," Caleb said. "It won't kill me."

"That's the least of the concerning things on the list of what it can do," Ezio said. "Paranoia, hallucinations, episodes of psychosis, violent behaviour, Caleb, this stuff's pretty nasty."

"It keeps me calm," Caleb said.

"Yeah, and _then_ it turns you into a borderline psychotic mess," Ezio answered. "You didn't wonder why suddenly you don't trust anyone anymore? Why you turned on Morgyn and started questioning things that didn't matter before? Caleb, it's _this shit_."

"Oh what the fuck would _you_ know," Caleb snarled, standing up and pacing around. "It's how I stay functioning."

"I know you think it is," Ezio said. "I know a lot more than you think I do. I know how you work. You're an empath, Caleb, you take other people's problems into yourself and you make them your own, and I know that it hurts. God, sometimes it hurts so much you can't breathe, can't think, feel like nothing will ever be right again, and damn if Morgyn doesn't have hurts that run _really_ deeply." Ezio breathed out, standing up and taking Caleb's hand.

Caleb stopped pacing, looking at him.

"But this isn't how you process that," Ezio said softly. "This only makes it worse. You have to _stop_ , Caleb. Before it destroys your life and makes you think you're better off for it."

Caleb didn't say anything, just watched him. And then pulled his hand out of Ezio's. "Don't look at me like that," he said, then picked his shirt up off the floor, and walked out the door.

Ezio closed his eyes for a moment, and then sat back down on the edge of the bed. Caleb had to want out of this. Ezio couldn't make him stop this.

* * *

The barrier was slowly coming down. It'd taken almost a week of working on it, but Drake had made good progress on it. Lilith breathed out, watching him work.

"How long do you think it'll take from here?" she asked.

Drake shrugged. "Maybe another day or two," he said. "This is a pretty tough barrier, but I've broken worse."

Lilith looked curious, but she didn't ask. Drake was a relatively secretive person, and Lilith had already resigned herself to never fully understanding him. It was just as well. It gave him a nice mystery vibe that would _probably_ be really useful for snagging the ladies, you know, if he cared to. But no, of course not. Drake only liked Ezio, and that had remained true for over two hundred years.

Drake and Ezio were _goals_ , to be honest.

"So when it breaks," Inna started, over there helping Drake in taking the barrier down, "do we have a plan of attack?"

Lilith shook her head. "Not really," she answered. "Unfortunately, by now, they'd have to be pretty stupid not to notice we've been out here hammering their barrier, so they'll probably be expecting us."

"Probably," Inna answered. "That's why… having a plan of our own is probably a good idea."

Lilith went quiet for a moment, thinking it over. Miss Hell was the more dangerous of the two. Not to say that Markus _wasn't_ somewhat dangerous in his own right, but he was notably less so than Miss Hell was. Either Inna or Elle should be able to handle him on their own, but it would probably be better to send them _both_ after Markus, just to be sure.

Taking Miss Hell down was going to be a little trickier. She was potentially still too strong for even _Lilith_ to handle, but on the other hand, Lilith doubted it to some extent. Miss Hell thought herself the baddest cat on the street. Why would she check the alleyways or look both ways before crossing the street? Lilith had a feeling her hubris was going to lend toward her getting herself _killed_ , but getting far enough to manage it may be somewhat trickier.

And for some reason, Lilith didn't exactly have Caleb to fall back on, either. That wasn't terribly surprising, he'd been inexplicably missing for the last few… uh, come to think, she'd long lost track of when the last time he'd been home was. She should seek to rectify this when she was done with this.

At any rate, she was making battle plans. "Inna, I want you and Elle after Markus," Lilith said.

"Got it," Inna answered.

"I'll take on Miss Hell," Lilith said.

"I'll help you, then," Drake said.

"You're helping?" Lilith asked. That was news to her, she'd figure he didn't want anything to do with this mess. (It _was_ kind of a mess, in all fairness.)

"Of course," Drake answered. "I said I was going to help, and here I am, I'm helping."

Lilith smiled. "We appreciate it, really," she said. "I _think_ I can handle her on my own, but I'm not entirely sure."

"Well, now you won't have to, at least," Drake said. "She won't necessarily be expecting a spellcaster hybrid, and I happen to know a few tricks. I'm no Ember in offensive magic, but I'm decent enough to get by."

"You know my hatred of Miss Hell is kind of personal," Lilith said. "She turned Caleb, a long time ago."

Realisation sort of dawned in Drake's eyes. "I see," he said. "Then, I'll stay out of it unless it looks like you can't manage alone."

"Thank you," Lilith said, shuffling around the side of the barrier and looking at the manor. What was she going to _do_ with it when she'd gotten it back?

Pfft. Probably, nothing.

"Why'd you back down?" Inna asked quietly, leaning over close to Drake as they worked on breaking the barrier together.

"There are two kinds of fights," Drake said. "The first is for survival, and the second is for pride. This is the latter. Miss Hell isn't necessarily a threat to survival, but she is a threat to Lilith's pride. Well, Caleb's, more accurately."

"That's odd," Inna said. "I've never thought of the motivations behind battle and war before. It all seems really dumb to me."

"It is," Lilith said, shuffling back to her place near them. "The best kind of soldier is the one that never goes to war in the first place. If you can ever win a battle before ever touching the battlefield, do it."

Inna tilted her head. "Why?"

Lilith smiled. "There are a lot of battles I could've won without fighting that I didn't," she said. "I regret that now. Regret isn't good for anyone."

* * *

Lilith paced around, almost impatiently. She should learn to have a little more of it, no doubt, but presently, she wasn't really in a forgiving mood about it. She could be impatient just this once. Multiple times already, Lilith had caught sight of Miss Hell or Markus peeking at them through the windows. Oh, yes, they knew they were there, though Miss Hell seemed amused.

Lilith couldn't wait to wipe that smug little smirk off her fucking face. That was okay. She'd get in there soon enough, and Miss Hell would have very little left to smirk about.

Ever since that day, Lilith had vowed that sooner or later, no matter how long it took her to do so, she was going to end the bitch that'd ruined Caleb's life, even if doing so took her down too. It was probably kind of sad, but Lilith had never claimed that it wasn't, and it was motivation to keep moving forward and striving to become better. Being realistic, it was probably some of the _best_ motivation for that she could've come up with.

And so, when she'd decided to become _friends_ with Miss Hell, it was more to learn her. To learn her style of battle, how she handled herself in fights, the kinds of tactics she'd tend to use, and Lilith studied them. Because one day she was going to bring all of Miss Hell's cute little methods and planning down, along with her and her glass castle.

Yes, once, they could've been called friends. If scheming to murder one another the entire time was the standard of friendship anymore, and maybe in some places in the world, it was. Certainly, for a time, it was in Forgotten Hollow, and Vladislaus had found it too amusing to ruin the show.

In hindsight, he was always speaking off-hand remarks about how Lilith was the better of his offspring, and he'd never said it _didn't_ include Miss Hell. Somehow, the thought that Vladislaus had believed her to be the stronger of them made her think maybe she could win this after all.

No, she could. She had no room for doubt, not now. Not this close to getting what she'd strived to achieve for so long.

Drake made a startled noise, and Lilith stopped pacing. "I got it!" he said. "Ready?"

Lilith nodded. Inna moved over close to her and nodded too.

Within seconds, the barrier shook and wavered, and then fell. Lilith instantly bolted through it. Markus appeared in front of her, but she moved out of the way, and slammed into Miss Hell behind him. The two slid across the entryway in Straud manor, and then Lilith stood up and threw her back outside.

She rolled slightly, and then regained control of her trajectory, firing psychic bolts. Lilith threw her own right back, breaking every one of Miss Hell's.

Behind them, Markus went toe to toe with Inna and Elle. While they were decent opponents alone, they were even better together. Drake shifted around the side of the manor's parameter, and then kicked the stone. Rock shot up from the ground, hurtling towards Miss Hell. Trapped between one and the other, Miss Hell vanished, but Lilith was expecting it, turned around, and socked her in the face the second she materialised, hard enough to send her flying into the fence around Vlad's cemetery.

The two groups held their ground decently well. A burst of lightning from Drake ended up causing Markus to get scared, however, and he stood up, looked at Miss Hell, and vanished. Inna giggled, but Elle seemed a little vexed that he'd run at all. Then, the two women turned their attention to the battle out front of Straud manor. Lilith had a few cuts by then, but Miss Hell was a little worse for wear, and Lilith showed no signs of slowing down. Drake was having slight trouble keeping up with them, but he was managing a protective barrier here and there to help Lilith minimise the amount of damage she was having to sustain.

As Inna and Elle turned and headed that way to help with Miss Hell, the vampire in question seemed to realise she was outnumbered, stood up, and vanished too with a soft snarl in Lilith's direction.

Straud manor was theirs. Lilith breathed out. Well, that was a start. With nowhere to really hide anymore, as Miss Hell couldn't manage defences like that without the power nexus, they had the upper hand now.

"This is bad, isn't it?" Inna asked, looking upset.

"Why would it be bad?" Lilith asked in return.

Elle snorted. "She got away, that's why," Elle said. "Remember what I told you, an enemy still breathing is a problem still standing? Or whatever it was that I said."

Lilith smiled. "We have the upper hand now," she said quietly. "Miss Hell may have a few more places to hide, but the only good ones have covens in them, and acting a fool around the wrong coven alpha will quickly be her undoing without my interference. She'll have to be careful now."

"San Myshuno?" Elle asked.

"Run by the Desert Storm," Lilith answered. "A few smaller ones have some minor territories, but most of it is Storm, and as you know, the Storm is the second oldest coven in existence."

"Oh, right, run by the guy with the white hair," Elle said.

"Surya," Lilith said. "So, I need a new barrier around this place," she mentioned, turning to Drake. "How big can you make it?"

Drake smiled. "All of the Hollow, gotcha," he said, and then went to casting.


	8. I Wanna Be Sure

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No lead image right now because honestly I stopped caring about five chapters ago.
> 
> -screeeeeam- It feels like everything is in that calm before the storm stage like right before it explodes. It is. I'm dying. I need to eat. I'm literally dying too.
> 
> Waiting For a Girl Like You, Foreigner

He could get used to waking up like this. Who was he kidding, he probably _was_ used to waking up like this. The sunlight streaming through the windows, the birds chirping, the sound of the city somewhere in the background, and her heartbeat against his ear, mixing with her breaths. Her hair was so frizzy, but he loved every little kinky strand of it. The way the light sparkled in her eyes, instead of just vanishing in their dark depths.

He didn't mind his own eye colour, but he thought he loved the sparkle of hers a lot more. Maybe just because they were _her_ eyes.

Ezio stayed right where he was, arms wrapped around her, his head lying against her chest. She'd wake up eventually, the day would officially begin, and they'd have to separate, but right now, he was going to enjoy being so close to her. So much had been going on recently, they didn't have a lot of time for a lot of things, for each other. He and Drake didn't either, but she was the more pressing one, so when he'd gotten back from dealing with Caleb's momentary loss of brain function, he'd brought her flowers and reminded her that he did care about her.

He didn't want to use the dread L word, not yet. Someday, maybe somewhat soon, he'd be ready to, but right now he wasn't. And unlike him, she was small and fragile and very human.

Cassandra's breathing shifted, and one hand moved through his hair. Then, she took a breath in, and looked down at him. Ezio tilted his head up to look at her. Something in her eyes made his brows furrow, one hand unburying from beneath her to brush her hair out of her face.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

She shrugged a shoulder. "Nothing in particular," she said.

Ah, she was just sad for some reason. He'd figured out some time ago she had depression, and he didn't mind it because of what it was, it was more because he didn't always know how to make it better.

"Do you want to be alone?" he asked. Sometimes she needed to be alone and parse it on her own.

She shook her head. "No," she said. "Just sitting like this is making it a little better."

"Okay," he answered, shifting around to look at her properly.

"I'm sorry," she said, raising a hand to brush against his cheek.

"Why?" he asked.

"This is stupid and you shouldn't have to deal with it," Cassandra answered, her eyes narrowing slightly.

Ezio shook his head, reaching up and taking her hand, kissing the palm. "I knew what I was getting into with this before we started dating," he said. "And I'd rather be here if you need me."

"You have more important things to do," she said.

Ezio smiled. "Nothing that can't wait," he said. "You're more important. And sweet," he kissed her palm again, "and kind," and a kiss to the back of her hand, "and gentle," trailing kisses up her arm, "and likely way too patient with my stupidity somehow, Cassie, there's nowhere I'd rather be than right here."

Cassandra smiled faintly, threading her fingers through Ezio's. He hadn't let her hand go anyway. "Drake?" she asked.

Ezio shook his head. "He got me all to himself the other day," he said. "Now it's your turn."

She went quiet, eyes turning to the window.

Ezio frowned slightly. "Are you sure you're okay with this?" he asked. "Drake and everything."

Cassandra looked back at him, seeming a bit confused. "I'm not upset by it," she said. "You're happy, or you seem to be. Isn't that the important part?"

"I'd like you two to also be happy," Ezio said.

"He means a lot to you," Cassandra said. "I can see that. I don't think this is how relationships _normally_ work, but none of us is exactly normal anyway. You're not mistreating me, or making me feel like you favour one of us over the other, though you logically should. I'm fine. Don't worry about me so much. You make me happy."

Ezio breathed out. "Okay then," he said, smiling slightly.

"Besides," she said, "you two are adorable together. He makes you light up in a way that I don't think I do."

Ezio snorted softly. "Trust me," he said, "you do it too, just in a different way." But that was to be expected. The way he felt for her wasn't, and shouldn't be, the same as how he felt for Drake. Ezio didn't think he _could_ love someone the way he loved Drake ever again, but he also didn't think he'd ever love someone the way he loved her, either.

Ahem, liked. He wasn't using the dread L word.

She smiled slightly, but a little brighter than she had the last time, and shifted up to kiss him. Ezio smiled into it, returning it, and then he took her hand in his again and laid down on her shoulder.

Idly, her other hand took to tracing the scars on his shoulder. He had a lot of those, and she'd definitely seen all of them. It was inevitable that she'd become curious at some point, he knew that.

He just liked to pretend they weren't there. It was hard to do that when people kept asking about them.

"What are these from, anyway?" she asked quietly. "You have so many of them."

Ezio looked up at her, then raised his head and kissed her shoulder. "Ask me again, later," he said. "And maybe then I'll be able to tell you. But I don't think I can yet."

"Okay," she answered. And then she moved and caught his lips with hers again, but this time, she didn't quite let him go.

She wasn't usually a very demanding person, but once in a while, she decided she wanted something, and Ezio was neither able, nor wanted, to resist it. And if she wanted him as much as he wanted her, he definitely wasn't going to resist.

* * *

He was starting to get a consistent migraine from all the ghost activity they tended to have in Spire. For the most part, the ghosts just minded their own business and left well enough alone, and that was fine enough. It didn't mean their presence wasn't starting to strain Ezio's necromancy capacity. It wasn't like Ezio had _trained_ it very well. He was a necromancer mostly in name, because while he did _know_ several necromancy spells, probably more than he should, he'd never actually _used_ any of them. The only thing he'd ever done with necromancy was pull spirits out of bodies they didn't belong in, and most of the time, it was his own.

Thankfully, _that_ didn't happen so often anymore. He could be glad for that.

Ezio was working on a painting, just something to pass the time, really. It wasn't supposed to _be_ anything, at least he didn't think so, but the more he added to it, the more weirdly familiar it seemed. He'd figure it out when it was done, he was sure. In the meantime, he just needed something to do besides go around in circles in his head about Caleb.

He should've seen that one coming, being honest about it. For that matter, so should Lilith have seen it coming. Come to think, now Ezio had to wonder if she knew. Well, if she knew, there'd _probably_ be a _lot_ more fighting in Spire than there actually was. Ezio stuck his tongue out, and closed one eye, looking at the canvas. Something was off, but his vision was terrible he guessed, because Ezio had no idea what it was. Hmm.

In the corner, a couple ghosts played chess. The physical pieces were cleared off the table, but they were using ectoplasmic ones, and the energy they were generating had tipped the scales and given him a headache. Maybe that was making it hard to focus, too. It probably was, even. He frowned, slightly, and then went back to painting. Given he had no idea what he was actually painting anyway, maybe he would do better for himself to just let it be whatever it would be.

Well, Ezio had a problem trying to control things that he likely shouldn't. It wasn't really a secret.

The sound the brush made against the canvas was interesting to him, though, and he tried not to think about how the painting was coming out, so much as the act of painting in the first place. He tilted his head a little, trying to blend a couple colours together a bit better.

"Hey, Ezio?" Cassandra's voice came from the doorway.

Ezio looked over at her. "Yeah?"

"Sorry, I was looking for the coffee mug you got me a few weeks ago, have you seen it?" she asked. Her dark eyes glanced over at the chess table, and for a moment, she looked confused, and then realisation seemed to dawn.

Ezio glanced over at the chess table, too, watching the ghosts over there play. He wondered if she could see them, but he didn't want to ask, either.

His gaze went back to her. "The right side of the cabinet adjacent to the fridge," he said.

"Oh," she said. "Thank you. Sorry, you're busy."

Ezio shook his head. "Never too busy for you at least." She seemed to be in a better mood now, too, and he was glad for that. He still wasn't terribly fond of her being sad, but he did realise that sometimes it would just happen and there wasn't much for it.

"Thanks," she said, flushing just a bit pink across her nose, and then she ducked into the kitchen.

Ezio looked amused. But then, if she was drawn to the chess table at all, then there was the high possibility she was sensing _something_ , even if she couldn't necessarily _see_ them. He glanced over at them again. Neither of them seemed to have noticed anything else going on around them, but these two were relatively old ghosts. He only knew because the energy they gave off was stronger.

The older a ghost was, the more energy it generated, and the stronger it was. The stronger the ghost, the easier it was to see and hear. Ezio was a decently powerful necromancer, even without actively using his necromancy, which he could only tell because he could see newly dead spirits quite well. Glenn had been almost indistinguishable from a living person for him.

If she was even just _sensing_ them, _through_ a _binding_ , she was a very powerful necromancer too. Ezio frowned, setting the paintbrush down in the jar of water. He may not have any choice _but_ to unbind her magic, because if her necromancy was starting to leak through the binding, it was powerful.

Come to think of it, he wondered if _he_ was really the bridge. Keisha sure seemed to believe so, but maybe it wasn't quite so straight-forward as she'd made it seem. Cassandra may be the bridge, not him. With as much blood from the five families as she had, she had the potential to be a much stronger spellcaster in general than he was, too.

Truth be told, he had no idea if he had the chops to even _teach_ her anything. She might prove to be way too powerful for him to know what to do with. Unfortunately, that meant the only ones that had a glimmer of a hope of being able to teach her were other five families members. The good news was, her parents were still alive, and she could probably have a chat with her ancestors just fine.

Ezio stood up, thinking he might head into the kitchen himself, because some tea or something sounded like a good idea. But as he did so, the room suddenly started to spin. Ezio reached out, leaning against the table with his paints and such on it to regain his balance. It steadied him a little, and then his vision suddenly blurred, and it became difficult to breathe. Shit, not now… the world went black, and he slid off the table and hit the floor, taking half of what was on the table with him.

* * *

The bright side was, he didn't have a _headache_ in here, wherever here was. Makana said they were in his soul, but he wondered if his soul was even a thing you could get to. Apparently so, because he seemed to be in it.

The darkness was still here. It wasn't _moving_ anywhere, it was just there, and Ezio had to wonder why that was. He shook his head slightly, readjusting the cloak he was always wearing here to sit properly, and shuffled towards where he knew Makana must be. The faceless child's giggling soon joined his footfalls, and he released a sigh. It hung in the air as vapour for a moment.

"Still not going to tell me who you are, right?" Ezio asked.

The child giggled, and ran ahead of him.

Ezio released another vapour puff of a sigh, and followed. Makana turned away from the darkness when he got there, smiling at him slightly.

"You'll understand someday," she said. "When you're ready. That time simply isn't now."

Ezio tilted his head slightly. He did figure she'd been a bit too quiet recently.

"It's time to started asking some questions, Ezio," Makana said.

He frowned just slightly. "I spoke to Keisha," he said.

"I know you did," she answered. "And I know what she told you. You've been ignoring it, but Ezio, it is so important."

Ezio went quiet, looking around. The faceless child had jumped off the walkway, into the darkness, and was now 'swimming' through it. That was almost cute if the image wasn't so goddamn creepy (why was it so creepy in his soul, anyway?).

"I'm not sure I want the answers," Ezio said. "Now, or ever."

Makana went quiet, turning around to watch the child swimming through the darkness. Her dark eyes twinkled in amusement at watching the scene, and Ezio wasn't sure how she managed to be so calm about it. Then again, she was dead. Little was terribly unnerving when you were dead, so he heard.

"To be ignorant, is to be chained by that ignorance," Makana said, turning back to him. "You may have learnt to love your chains, Ezio, but this isn't entirely about you. You are not the only one this affects. Change does not happen easily. Someone must start it."

Ezio sighed. Of course not. Things were so much simpler when they were only his to be concerned about. But then, if he was understanding the hints Keisha was dropping, this affected all of magic realm, maybe all of the dimensions at once. Nothing was right.

And just why, exactly, was it _his_ responsibility to put it right, anyway? That wasn't fair to think, he supposed, but he did have to wonder. Why couldn't _someone else_ do this? He was fucking _dying_ for crap's sake, had the dead missed that or something?

"Ezio, you were chosen for a reason," Makana said. "Yes, you are dying. You have nothing to lose. Except your life, and you'll lose that anyway."

Ezio released a sigh, turning away from the puff of vapour. He didn't think he was supposed to make it much further than this. Something in him just _knew_ it. Whatever this was… he wasn't going to live to see the end of it, and then what? What if he didn't get far enough? What if there was still more to do when he was gone? Morgyn couldn't continue on after him. The blond wouldn't take his death well, and Ezio knew that. Cassandra wasn't strong enough just yet and was even easier to damage than he was. Drake wouldn't have the will, either.

No fucking pressure or any goddamn thing like that.

"I don't know where to start," he said, turning to face her. He could feel the frost spreading up his arm. "I have so many questions and no idea where to start asking them. You're my spirit guide. _Guide_ me."

Makana breathed out. "The Essairs would know," she said. "They were there when it happened, and they know the truth. But I don't know that they will _tell_ you. The book may eventually. But you may do best listening to the dead. They are proof that it happened, because they were there, and it destroyed them, just like it will destroy Morgyn if you don't stop it."

"What is 'it'?" Ezio asked.

"The All, Ezio," Makana said.

What? Why would the All be a threat to Morgyn? Okay, now he was really confused-

"Cassandra is a spellcaster, whether you like it or not," Makana said. "You cannot protect her from what she is forever."

Ezio looked up at her, and then released another puff of vapour.

Makana reached over, taking one of his hands in hers. He glanced down at it; it was starting to freeze solid. "This is how you love," she said. "By protecting. But you must understand that there are times when protecting is the wrong choice. You cannot be there all of the time. You're not a god. But you can teach them to protect themselves, instead. Now, go. Before you can't leave again."

Ezio sighed again. She was right, and he knew it. He thought that, he clung so hard to others, because he had nothing else. Because he'd lost _himself_ so long ago, that he didn't know who he was supposed to be anymore, he hadn't for a long time. Alone, it was so easy to fall into the mindset for him that nothing was real, and it was other people that gave him grounding. Without the touchstone, it started to feel like everything was an illusion and it was all in his head.

He didn't say anything else, simply turned, and headed back across the walkway. She was also right in that if he stayed too long, he'd end up trapped here, and he wasn't ready to leave just yet.

* * *

He heard the cars first. Awareness was slow-going, but he was regaining it a little at a time. His hand twitched, and then turned around, feeling the blanket that was draped over him. Something heavy and warm was lying against one side of him, and Ezio wasn't sure what that was. Then, he realised he smelled her shampoo. Cassandra.

Ezio was so tired. And Makana had given him a bit to think about, more than he wanted, to be honest. He had to wonder who or what exactly had stuck him with this mess, because he really wanted to have a word or a few with whoever it was. He didn't remember agreeing to any of this, but he supposed the forces that be wouldn't care if he did or not.

The All was a threat to Morgyn, though… maybe it was a good thing he'd interrupted Morgyn's bond with it. But if the All was a threat to Morgyn, and it'd been implied more than once that the All wasn't what the spellcasters liked to say it was, then _what the fuck was it_?

Ugh, that was for _not tired_ Ezio to worry about.

He drew a breath in, and released it, peeking one eye open. Drake was sitting in a chair by the bed, writing in a notebook. He had them both. Ezio smiled.

"You know," he said softly, "this isn't a terrible way of waking up."

Drake raised his head, and then set his notebook down on the floor, and took Ezio's hand.

Cassandra clung a little tighter to his arm. "You're awake!" she said, practically a whisper.

"Yeah," Ezio said. "I'm awake now. How long was I out?"

Drake shook his head. "Only a day, maybe not even an entire one, technically," he said. "It is morning at least, and you should eat something."

Ezio groaned. "I'm so tired," he said.

"Okay," Drake said, reaching over with his other hand to pet his hair. "We managed to get your medication to you pretty fast. You took half the table down with you when you passed out. There's a little paint on the floor still."

Ezio winced. "Sorry," he said.

"It's fine," Cassandra said, kissing his cheek. "It's probably for the best, even, you managed to tell us you needed help relatively quickly."

Drake snorted. "Yeah," he said. "Take half a table down with you more often, it's a nice alarm."

"I'll try and remember that," Ezio answered, amused. He moved his arm, wrapping it around Cassandra, and then motioned for Drake to attach to his other side.

Drake didn't look so sure about that, but he eventually moved up onto the bed, and settled down next to Ezio.

Ezio took a breath in, nuzzling against Drake's neck. He almost asked about Morgyn, but he and the blond hadn't spoken in some days now. At least Morgyn had been kind enough to finally let him process his emotions on his own, without interaction with the idiot making everything incidentally worse.

He wasn't as angry as he used to be. Maybe he could let it go, soon. It didn't really matter anymore, and letting Aine come between them, _now_ of all times, was probably not the best idea. He didn't know if Morgyn was ready to really talk about it, though. There were a lot of things about Aine that Morgyn didn't really know, and Ezio didn't want to make the blond have to face it if Morgyn wasn't ready.

But maybe neither of them had the leisure to decide whether they were ready to face something or not. Sometimes, things changed. Ezio wasn't ready to leave. But he'd have no choice on that one, either.

The three of them were quiet, for a time, just enjoying each other's presence. Ezio was thinking a little too much. It must've become obvious, because Drake's head nudged his.

"Are you okay?" Drake asked. "You seem a bit upset."

"I'm fine," Ezio answered, almost immediately.

"That was too quick of a response," Drake said. "You didn't think about it."

Of course he didn't. Ezio was about damned sick of thinking. He sighed. "I know," he said. "Just, it's not important right now. Don't worry about it. I'm just happy you're both here."

And he could hear Mayor Whiskers jingling somewhere nearby, probably under the bed. So the cat was here, too. Hmm. He did have to wonder what would happen with Mayor once he was gone. He kind of hoped the cat would adopt Morgyn when he was gone.

That was so _depressing_.

Instead of thinking about it anymore, Ezio decided he didn't want to, rolled over onto his side. He snuggled up next to Drake, and took Cassandra's hand in his, draping her arm around his waist. That was a lot more comfortable, and they fit a little better up there with him. He didn't want to have to let them go, of course, and snuggling up to them both was making it a little easier to think about something else and _maybe_ , get some actual sleep rather than simply being unconscious.

Blacking out wasn't the most restful thing.

"Is that more comfortable?" Cassandra asked, resting her chin in the crook of Ezio's neck.

"Yeah," Ezio answered softly. He was steadily starting to doze off, and that was a good thing, so he certainly wasn't fighting it very hard.

Cassandra smiled. "Good," she said, just as softly. "Get some sleep. But you should eat something when you get up, so don't forget."

Ezio snorted. "Like you two would let me," he said, sounding amused.

"Well, you never know," Cassandra said. "Maybe we'll get eaten by the bogeyman before you wake up."

"Nooo," Ezio whispered. "Don't do that, I don't want to go to war with the bogeyman."

Drake laughed slightly. Cassandra did, too.

"Thank you," Ezio whispered.

"For what?" Cassandra asked.

"For not making me have to choose between you two," Ezio answered. "I love you both too much."

* * *

Sarnai was annoyed. This stupid barrier was proving to be a little more problematic than she remembered signing up for. She was old, and powerful, and was being defeated by a _fucking barrier_. No matter. Sarnai would figure it out eventually, _or_ she supposed she could change tactics and stop trying to break it directly. Perhaps something _indirect_ would work out better. Or she could just get off her ass and stop playing with the twins, and actually _capture_ one.

That sounded like the least grating of her options. One or the other should be able to get her through the barrier, right? At least, theoretically. It was possible they couldn't, either.

As she paced around, something shifted in the air, and Sarnai's mood immediately soured. This one wasn't the grating necromancer bitch, though. Miss Hell stepped out of the shadows, and boy was there fury in her gait and a kaleidoscope of rage in her eyes.

It was almost entertaining, but Sarnai simply tilted her head.

"I need your help," Miss Hell spat out.

Sarnai raised an eyebrow. "You?" Sarnai asked. " _Our_ help? Dare we ask why?"

"Oh don't play coy," Miss Hell answered. "The Vatore bitch just chased us off the power nexus and regained control of Straud manor, and thus Forgotten Hollow. And then she erected a fucking _barrier_ around all of the Hollow."

Sarnai frowned. "Well, that might put a damper in a few of our plans, yes."

"Yeah, probably," Miss Hell said. "I need you to take out Lilith. Apparently I'm not strong enough to take her down on my own, but she should be no problem for you."

Sarnai tilted her head again, then turned around and began pacing, mulling it over. "Well," Sarnai started, turning to look at Miss Hell, "we _could_ help you. If you help us first."

"With what?" Miss Hell asked.

"We need through magic realm's barrier," Sarnai said. "It is proving more difficult than we anticipated to break."

"So get a spellcaster," Miss Hell said. "Preferably not Aine, the barrier doesn't like her as I recall."

"So we've heard," Sarnai answered. "How do we take out the twins?"

"The Embers?" Miss Hell asked. "Why are you fucking with them?"

"One of them is a sage," Sarnai said. "But the dark one keeps getting in our way when we aim for the sage."

"You won't be able to get Morgyn that way," Miss Hell said. "So long as Ezio is still breathing, he will continually stand in your way. What you need to do is neutralise Ezio, and then Morgyn should cow to you pretty quickly. Or just take Ezio, he's a little stronger than Morgyn is anyway. And if that doesn't work, you can borrow Caleb and use him as bait."

Oooh, Sarnai _did_ love bait… She tilted her head. "Ezio is the dark one?"

"Yes," Miss Hell answered. "Go after him specifically. If you can trap him, do it."

Sarnai nodded. "You'll leave us alone after this?" she asked. "After we get rid of the Vatore for you?"

Miss Hell snorted. "Do you have any interest in running the Hollow?"

Sarnai shook her head.

"How about Caleb?" Miss Hell asked.

Sarnai made a face like she didn't even know who that was. If she remembered right that was the name of the _other_ Vatore, but Sarnai couldn't keep track of people anymore. No one mattered but Ra anyway. Half the time, she didn't even remember this one or the black haired witch's name either.

"We have no problem, then," Miss Hell said. "I'll leave you alone after this."

Sarnai smiled. "We will take care of your Vatore problem later. We already have a plan."


	9. Born

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hoo haaaaaah stuff about to start goin goin goin sooouth… no image for this one rn either. I’ll get these later. I may just do the next slew of chapters without images because honestly, yeah, I really did stop caring like 5ever ago.
> 
> I wrote another 10k today. I don’t know if I will get 15k, and get another chapter out, I kind of want to because this is 52, 53 is Important and 54 Explodes. So very close to 57. 57 and 58 are going to have Warnings on them. “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here…”
> 
> Listen, I’m going to have a hard time writing those. I really am.
> 
> Liberty is too precious for this world. Protecc her. Also, Troi is named after Deanna Troi from Star Trek.
> 
> Born, MitiS

"Don't move," Troi said, sticking his arm with a needle.

Ezio winced, but he didn't tense up or anything. They were doing bloodwork to make sure the levels of his everything were normal, along with the regular checkup he was a little late for because life exploded and he no longer remembered what month it was. (Seriously, what month _was_ it?)

"I'll get these sent to the lab, don't run off," Troi said, gathering the blood draws she'd just gotten and taking them out to the desk outside the door.

Ezio looked amused, but he stayed put, pulling his turtleneck back on. He didn't like his scars showing, so he did everything in his power to cover them all up. Usually, that meant he wore enough fabric to look like he was overheating. Most of the time, he was actually quite comfortable, though he did often get asked if he was hot.

Yep. Ezio just, sat around overheating because he hated himself. Then again, people jumped into freezing water and drank laundry detergent, so he supposed that shouldn't be surprising in the least.

Ezio smiled a little when Troi came back. "Alright, so I think we can actually lower one of your medication dosages," she said.

"Really?" Ezio asked. "That's good news."

"If anything changes," Troi said, "anything at all, you call me and tell me. Even if it seems really stupid. Even if you have to call me on my cellphone at 2 in the morning. Okay?"

Ezio made a face. He did have a habit of not telling her when things went wrong, but could one really blame him? And two in the morning? He wasn't calling her at _two in the morning_.

"Don't look at me with that tone of voice mister," Troi said. "I'm serious. I'd rather have a little less sleep than be figuring out what to wear for your funeral."

Ezio smiled. "I know," he said. "But you know how I am about bothering people."

"I don't think it counts as bothering when I ask you to do it," Troi said. "Now, what's wrong?"

"What?" Ezio asked. "Nothing's wrong?"

"You're quieter than usual, and keep getting lost in your own head," Troi said. "That usually means you're thinking too hard about something."

Yeah, Ezio was thinking a little too hard about pretty much everything going on in his life right now. He had something to fix, and didn't even understand it, and by the way, it's a threat to Morgyn, and also you were chosen for this specifically because you're going to die. Isn't that nice? At least you have something _useful_ to do before you go out. And from the sounds of it, Ezio didn't think he was going to go particularly _easily_ , either. All things considered, especially if Aine was involved, he had a very high chance of ending up going out terribly.

Screw the fucking bang, he was going out with a nuclear explosion.

Never mind that he still had to figure out what to do with Morgyn, and Caleb, and Morgyn and Caleb.

Ezio loosed a groan. "I have a lot on my mind," he said.

"Like?" Troi asked.

Ezio gave her a look.

"We are still friends," Troi said. "And I'm here if you need someone to talk to. And, I think maybe you need someone to talk to."

Actually, he really needed to find a couple ghosts and punch them, but that was beside the point. Ezio shrugged slightly. "Morgyn and I got into a fight."

Troi's eyebrows shot up. "Your twin?" she asked.

"The one everyone thought was my girlfriend for five years," Ezio said, smiling.

Troi laughed. "Oh yeah," she said.

Ezio had made it through living on the streets by telling stories, and the stories he told often involved Morgyn. For a good long time, all of his street friends, Troi included, had thought this mysterious Morgyn person either didn't exist, or was Ezio's lover. Those stories were all that kept him going, sometimes. Because they reminded him that he had reasons to keep moving, even when it felt like he didn't.

"What about?" Troi asked, sitting down.

Ezio shrugged. "Morgyn had a teacher, of a sort, it's more complicated than that but also occulty," Ezio said. "I didn't like her. She was constantly misgendering Morgyn, like purposely, she doesn't really believe in transgenders, and it felt like every other day she'd say something to upset Morgyn. But Morgyn loved her, and I know that, and I know why. Morgyn was trying to find a mother figure again, and Aine seemed perfect for it. She just didn't want it. Anyway, anytime Aine upset Morgyn, we'd get into a fight over it, and Morgyn always defended her."

Troi slowly nodded, her lips flattening into a line. "I see," she said. "So you're upset about that, and Morgyn doesn't seem to understand why?"

Ezio shrugged. "I think the dingbat gets it now," he said. "It just hurt so much, back then, when Morgyn did it again recently, and I don't know how to let it go again."

Troi sighed, and then smiled slightly. "You know," she said, leaning back in her chair, "I knew how much you love Morgyn even back then. It was obvious in your eyes, the way they lit up and the light started to dance in them when you told stories about Morgyn and the things you two had gotten up to. It cheered us all up and kept us all going, because it was so strong that even we could feel it. You need Morgyn, Ezio. And Morgyn needs you."

Ezio breathed out. He knew that. There was never any question of that, nor was there any question of whether or not Morgyn would always have him.

"Acknowledge the hurt," Troi said. "And then let it go. It doesn't serve a purpose anymore. And staying angry with Morgyn, it only hurts you both, and Morgyn does love you, very much. I think maybe it's just that Morgyn doesn't always know how to show that."

Ezio sighed again, standing up. Troi took one of his hands in hers.

"Tell Morgyn how you feel," she said. "And then let go."

* * *

Not far from the hospital Troi worked in was Magnolia Promenade. And the neat thing about Magnolia Promenade was it was full of stores and shops, and cafes. Ezio had a very specific shopping trip in mind, something in particular that he was after. He had no idea if he had enough for both today, but he had a decent amount of savings. It was supposed to be for emergencies, and those happened from time to time, but he could try and fit a part-time job in around the end of university if he needed to.

It took a bit of wandering around before he found it, but he did indeed find the jewellery store he was after. It looked _way_ out of his price range, but he pulled his jacket a little tighter and wandered in. He was looking for the lower price end, so he looked at the price tags and followed them to the less expensive side of the store.

Cassandra would probably like something purple. She wasn't really big on diamonds or gold, for that matter. Most of the jewellery he'd seen her wear was purple and dark metal, occasionally silver. Ezio looked over the options in the glass cases, his eyes immediately going towards anything that didn't have a diamond centre stone. Dark blue might suit her fine, too, red, even. He'd seen her wear red a few times before, and he vaguely remembered her having a pair of dark blue earrings.

As he looked, one of the employees wandered over. "Having trouble deciding?" she asked.

Ezio glanced up at her, and then tapped the glass, over an silver-set amethyst solitaire. "Could I have a look at this one?" he asked.

"Certainly, just a second," she said, reaching over and unlocking the back of the case. She reached in and plucked the ring he was looking at from its perch, and held it out for him.

Ezio turned it around in his fingers, watching the light dance in the stone. It alighted with violet fire. He smiled. He thought she'd love it.

"We have a couple other amethyst pieces," the woman said. "A few more solitaires, and there are a couple with cubic zirconia flanking, if you'd like something that looks a little more variant."

Ezio frowned slightly. "Do you have anything with the cubic zirconia and maybe a darker coloured silver metal?" he asked. "Like a gunmetal."

The woman thought for a moment, and then took the ring in his hand back, returning it to its place, before shuffling down the case a ways. "I think maybe this will work better," she said, opening a different case and pulling something else out.

Ezio shuffled over to see it. In her hand was a beautiful princess cut amethyst, with trillion cut amethysts on either side and more around the band, set in a dark metal. "Oh, my gosh," he said.

"I thought so," she answered, smiling. "This is tungsten carbide. It's usually a bit of a darker colour compared to silver and platinum, it's fairly well resistant to scratching."

Ezio raised an eyebrow.

"I've never figured out why, don't ask," she said.

"How much is this one?" Ezio asked.

"This one's forty," she answered.

"Oh that's way in my range," Ezio said. "I'd like this one, please."

"This is a size seven," she said. "Is that going to work?"

"Um, actually a five would be better," Ezio answered.

The woman nodded, putting that one back and then pulling a box out from underneath the case, and setting it on the glass.

Ezio started looking at some more of the options, following the case to find the less feminine-looking designs. Not that he figured Drake would terribly _mind_ a more feminine-looking design, it was just… to be honest, Ezio had no _idea_ what he'd like. Apparently, one of the first things he should ask when starting to date someone is 'what kind of jewellery do you like?' because this guessing shit was nerve-wracking.

"Looking for something else?" she asked.

Ezio groaned and tapped his head against the glass.

"This one's going to be harder, huh?" she asked. "Well, what kind of jewellery does this one like?"

Ezio shrugged. "I don't know," he said. "He doesn't ever wear any. I don't think I've ever even seen him wear _necklaces_." That was just weird, come to think of it.

"Okay, well," the woman said, "how about, what's his favourite colour?"

Ezio snorted. "Grey," he answered. Being fair, that _was_ a decent place to start.

The woman stared at him for a moment, and then took a breath in. "Oh!" she said. "Like your eyes! That's really cute."

Ezio blinked, and looked up at her. And then a pinkish flush spread across his nose and up to his ears. He'd never once thought of that before. Now he had to wonder if Drake's favourite colour was grey specifically because his eyes were that colour. That sounded like something Drake would decide.

The sales lady giggled. "Ahh, young love," she said.

Yeah, not so young love, but he decided to leave that be.

"Well, we do have a number of simplistic bands made of grey with cubic zirconia accents if you think he'd like a stone," she said. "Oh, there's this one band you may think he'll like, it's duotone but it's two different tones of grey. There's another one over here that's tungsten carbide with an inlay of crushed moonstone and diamonds, it's a nice deep grey tone with a shimmer to it."

Ezio perked up slightly. "Show me that second one," he said.

"That one's over a hundred dollars," she answered. "Are you sure?"

Ezio thought about it for a moment, and then nodded. "I'm very sure."

* * *

As always he did, Ezio set the teapot to making a nice green tea first thing in the morning. The sun was long up, but he'd been waiting for Morgyn to wake up, so that he could catch the blond before Morgyn ran off to wherever it was Morgyn went anymore. Not that Ezio minded. Morgyn didn't seem too upset about anything, and it was a good thing in his opinion. Maybe Morgyn was just keeping busy with something. Not like the blond didn't have a lot of homework and brushing up on science to do.

But, Ezio had started the coffee pot for Morgyn, too. The blond peeked into the kitchen, noticed Ezio was in it, and wandered off again. Probably, Morgyn would wait until Ezio wasn't in there anymore and then go make coffee. Ezio just intended to beat the blond to it this time.

A few minutes later, and Ezio wandered out into the living room, where Morgyn was reading the newspaper, and set the coffee cup down on the coffee table, then sat on the couch next to Morgyn. Morgyn looked up, seemingly very confused.

"Uh…" Morgyn started. "Hi?"

Ezio smiled. "Hi," he answered.

"… are you not mad at me anymore?" Morgyn asked.

"No, still kind of mad," Ezio said. "I just also realise there's no sense in staying angry, that's all. It was all a long time ago, and letting Aine come between us even now, it seems stupid."

"Your feelings aren't _stupid_ ," Morgyn said. "Huh, that sounds like something my friend would say. Anyway, I understand now. I had to have someone _else_ explain it, but, you know I never meant it that way, right? I believe in you as much as you believe in me. It just… hurt and I didn't make good choices, and it's no excuse I'm just explaining I guess."

Ezio breathed out, then took a drink of his tea, and set it down next to Morgyn's coffee. "I know that," Ezio said. "I think that's why I let it go before. Because I knew you didn't mean it that way."

"Still, I'm sorry," Morgyn said. "I never meant to hurt you."

Ezio smiled again, reaching over and taking Morgyn's hand in his. And for a moment, they just sat there, holding hands and watching the sunlight refract off the steel and glass buildings of Uptown. It was still so weird living here. But Ezio wouldn't trade it for anything.

"I think things are going to start changing," Ezio said quietly.

Morgyn looked over at him. "What makes you say that?"

"Things already _are_ changing," Ezio said. " _We're_ changing. And it feels like everything's leading up to something, something big. The spirit world's all messed up. The vampires are restless. The air even feels thicker."

Morgyn glanced down at their joined hands, and frowned. "What do you think it means?"

Ezio drew in a breath. "I think it means we're about to face something bigger than anything we've ever faced before," he said. "And I don't want to lose you along the way."

"Oh, Ezio," Morgyn said. "You know I'm not going anywhere."

"That's just it though," Ezio answered. "You're not really careful, Morgyn. And sure, you're not as delicate as I am. But you're not as indestructible as you like to think you are, either."

"What are you saying?" Morgyn asked.

"I'm saying, please, think a little more before you do things," Ezio said. "And if you're not sure about it, ask someone else first before you do anything. Because I don't want to be dealing with your funeral any more than you want to be dealing with mine."

Morgyn was quiet for a moment, and then shifted around to hug his arm. "Okay," the blond answered quietly. "But promise me you'll do the same thing. You're not very careful, either, and you keep taking on way too much Ezio. You don't _have_ to do everything on your own."

No, he didn't suppose he did. Sometimes, it just felt that way. "Okay," Ezio said. "I'll try. I promise."

"I promise too," Morgyn answered, and then rested against Ezio's shoulder.

The two were quiet for a long moment again. Ezio probably could've fallen asleep right there. It was nice to be near Morgyn again, even as it was a little strange.

Then, Morgyn's head tilted slightly. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure," Ezio answered.

"Why do you hate Aine so much?" Morgyn asked. "I got that you _do_ , just not really the whys."

Ezio went quiet, thinking. Mulling over how to word it, before he released a puff of air. "She was doing something called gaslighting," Ezio said.

"What's that?" Morgyn asked.

"It's when someone consistently questions or contradicts what you say and believe," Ezio explained. "You were very young, and very confused. The freedom was a strange thing to you, something you had to get used to, and then you started trying to figure out who you even were. And every time you thought you had it, Aine would tell you otherwise. When someone challenges your perception of reality like that, your memory, your sense of self, it makes you start distrusting yourself and your instincts. It causes a disconnect between yourself, your feelings, your ability to know what you want and don't, and makes you dependent on others to define what reality is, and who you are. You lose all sense of what is right and true. The ability to pick out lies and tell when someone is honest or not. And when you finally would've figured out what she was doing, you wouldn't have ever fully trusted anyone ever again. Maybe, not even me."

Morgyn was quiet for a long moment, resting against his arm. And then the blond snorted. "You know," Morgyn said, "I actually question myself a lot even now."

Ezio sighed. He wasn't surprised, really. "I figured," he said. "That was why, though. Why I'd make it a point to try and build you up after every time Aine tried to tear you down. In the hopes that, maybe, my words would start overriding hers."

* * *

They still had some work that needed to be done between the two of them. He and Morgyn had to learn to be more honest with each other, because they'd both spent a long time hiding too many things from the other. There were reasons for that, of course, but Ezio was learning that in the end, it was only hurting them both. Ezio knew and understood that much, of course. He knew it all along and never thought to change things, primarily because there were reasons why he wasn't being fully honest with Morgyn.

But they both felt that the lack of honesty between them was impacting the foundation of their bond. It wasn't like they didn't trust each other; of course they did. They just also both loved one another more than was logical, to the point that they'd keep secrets for fear of each other's reactions.

Ezio sat at the chess table, playing a game with one of the spirits that was currently hanging around Spire. There were still quite a number of them in and out, and more every day. Cassandra had started to notice several of them, not just the older ones either. Ezio was doing a bit of an experiment.

She sat on the couch, watching them. He was trying to teach her how to sense them, and have a basic idea of what the feelings that they gave off mean, rather than risk her someday falling into the trap of relying on seeing them. Spirits were tricky, and many of them concealed their intentions and feelings in order to get what they wanted. Particularly angry ones might do so maliciously, and it was important that she learnt to _sense_ them rather than merely _see_ them, because that would give her a notable advantage against dangerous ones. They wouldn't so easily be able to lie to her.

Ezio moved one of the pieces, the ectoplasmic kind. The ghost he was playing with moved, too. Cassandra squinted.

"B4?" she said. Ezio had her starting with sensing ectoplasm. It would give her a solid foundation, because ghosts, of course, were ectoplasm.

"Yep," Ezio said, smiling.

"I'm getting better at this I think," Cassandra said. "Is it really going to help?"

Ezio nodded. "It will," he said. "I don't want you to rely on what they let you see too much. And besides, sometimes a ghost doesn't want to be seen just yet, and will remain in the in-between."

"They can affect this dimension from the in-between?" Cassandra asked.

"Yes," Ezio said. "Usually only strong ones, either very angry ones, or very old ones."

"What do you do with angry ones?" Cassandra asked.

Ezio glanced over at her, moving another chess piece. Faintly, his eyes started to give off a green glow. "At the moment," he said, "if you run into an angry spirit, you come and find me. But angry spirits aren't always malevolent. Many of them simply had very traumatic and usually quite sudden deaths, and their confusion and trauma kind of expresses as anger. They often don't make any sense, and puzzling out what they need is notably tricky."

"Are you any good at it?" Cassandra asked.

Ezio snickered. "No one ever gets good at it," he said. "I'm passable. I get by, usually by ending up _possessed_ by the damned things, but it helps understand them better."

"Is possession common?" Cassandra asked, raising an eyebrow.

"For me?" Ezio said. "Yes. Ethren didn't seem to have this issue as much as I always have, though. Maybe ghosts just can't figure out if they want me, or want to be me."

Cassandra almost spat her tea out with laughter.

Ezio smiled. That was poor timing, but he did like making her smile. "So," he started, "I wanted to have more answers for you than I do right now, but I lied to you. I _can_ unbind your magic, and judging by the fact you can sense spirits around the binding, _someone_ will likely have to and maybe soon."

Cassandra tilted her head. "Why'd you lie about that?" she asked. She didn't sound upset, just interested in why.

Ezio released a breath. "And this is why I wanted more answers before I said this," he said. "The spirit world is restless. The worlds seem to be leaking into one another, something's wrong in magic realm, the vampires are riled up. There's something going on, and it's probably something fairly big, too. You're unfortunately a very powerful spellcaster. And I don't want you to dive into unbinding your magic with no caution, because doing so _could_ get you in more trouble than you know what to do with. More trouble than I can necessarily save you from."

He wanted to say that he was wrong, and he _could_ , but he knew better than to say that. Because the simple fact of the matter was, he probably couldn't, especially not while trying to keep _himself_ stable and also prevent Morgyn from doing anything really stupid. Embers, they had a weird penchant for being complete idiots. (At least they knew it?)

And unfortunately, as he'd already thought, he may not have the ability to teach her anything beyond the very basics. Her abilities may be so far beyond his he didn't even know where to really start past those. That was perhaps for Bella to figure out, but he supposed Cassandra was more than capable of navigating that one with her own mother. Ezio wouldn't be so presumptuous as to try and handle it for her.

Cassandra took a deep breath in, and released it. "I'll wait then," she said. "Before unbinding my magic, that is. I'll wait. I don't want to make things harder on you."

Ezio smiled, standing up and shuffling over to kneel behind the couch. Then, he shifted up a little and kissed her nose.

Cassandra wrinkled it in response. Ezio couldn't help laughing.

"Thank you," he said. "Someday, we'll unbind it, I promise, just maybe not anytime soon."

"I know," Cassandra said. "I was just kind of excited to start learning."

"Yeah, we all are at first," Ezio said. "Keep working on sensing ghosts, though. They insist on being around anyway, and the practise will serve you well."

* * *

The problem with everything Ezio had said was, he was right, and the frustrating part was that Caleb knew it, even as he'd turned and walked away from him. Caleb couldn't honestly say _why_ he'd turned and walked away like that, but something about the mixture of Ezio trying to help him after Caleb had done god knows what to him and the look in his eyes while they were talking, it just set his nerves on edge, and made it hard to breathe and think.

Most of the time, Ezio was a little terrifying to him. He'd been places and seen some shit, and maybe _done_ some shit, and you could see it in his eyes. Morgyn was the seemingly explosive one, but it was Ezio's eyes that looked like the eyes of a killer. Caleb seemed to have some _weird_ fascination with danger, so to him it just made Ezio attractive, even as he was terrifying.

He wasn't the most open guy, either. Most of the time, Caleb thought he was quite the opposite. Sometimes, he was even a little bit of an asshole, and Caleb had his fair share of assholes. He didn't need any more of those.

But then, he did that _thing_ that he'd done with Caleb. Where he seemed to turn into a completely different, painfully kind person. There was kindness in him, and there was a lot of it, and when it showed, Caleb couldn't help but be drawn to it. Ezio had called him an empath. Sometimes, Caleb thought that Ezio was also an empath, just one that had been hurt so much, he'd started blocking most of the world out.

And the part of Caleb that was afraid of ending up just like him, that part of him wanted to squirrel Ezio away somewhere safe where no one and nothing else would hurt him again. Partially because, if Ezio broke, then what did that mean for him? And partially because, Ezio deserved so much better than that. To fight all this way, only to break in the end.

He still had classes, and it was probably the only thing keeping him remotely on a schedule. He was even mostly sober at the moment, mostly because it was hard to concentrate when he was high, and one thing he wasn't doing, he wasn't wasting his university tuition. Caleb wouldn't call he and Lilith _poor_ , but neither were they necessarily rich, and it was enough to at least kind of make him feel bad about not taking his studies seriously. Lilith had to get through university, too, if nothing else.

Caleb made his way across campus, headed to the place he liked to spend time when he wasn't in class. He had a break between them at the moment, long enough to wander around, short enough he didn't want to run home. As he turned a corner though, he almost ran into someone else. She stopped just as he did, and then he realised that was Liberty.

"Oh wow," Liberty said, and then started laughing. Her laugh was oddly melodic and enchanting. "Sorry, I almost ran into you again! Wow. The chances of that, hey, nice to see you though."

"Yeah, nice to see you too," Caleb answered. And for the first time in a long time, he smiled a little. Hers was infectious, wide and unafraid of anything.

He could see himself wanting to squirrel _her_ away someday, too.

"How've you been?" Liberty asked.

"Just…" fine, he was going to say, but something about the way she was looking at him made him change his mind. "Going day by day," he said instead. "Not doing so great, actually."

"I'm sorry to hear that," she said, and the way she said it, it didn't sound like she was just _saying_ that to say it. She meant it. "Can I help?"

Caleb shook his head. "Probably not," he answered. "But thank you. How have you been?"

"Oh, I've been just fine," Liberty said, her eyes glancing up at the sky.

She looked away when she was lying.

"Are you off to class?" she asked.

"Not at the moment," he answered.

"Well, want to come with me and get a coffee or something?" she asked. "The cart's right over there, and I could use some caffeine. You also look like you could use a pick-me-up."

Caleb glanced over, and then shrugged. "Okay," he said, and turned towards it.

Liberty scurried along beside him, and they walked in vague silence. Caleb smelled something familiar, though, on her. Familiar in such a way as to make his heart hurt, and when he recognised the scent, he wondered when he'd forgotten it.

She smelled like Morgyn.

"You kind of smell like someone I know," Caleb said. "You smell like Morgyn."

Liberty looked over at him. "Yeah, I bet I do," she said. "We've been reading and nerding out over books and stuff for the last week or so. Ezio's been upset, so Morgyn didn't want to stay at home. We're pretty good friends now I think."

Morgyn had friends now. Caleb was glad to hear that, and yet also felt a little sad about it, because it meant that Morgyn didn't really need him anymore.

"You should hate me, then," Caleb said.

One of her eyebrows raised up. "And why's that?" she asked.

Caleb breathed out. "Because I hurt Morgyn," Caleb said, looking down at the walkway. "Probably more than anyone ever has before."

Liberty was quiet for a moment, as they walked up to the coffee cart. "A coffee please," she said. "What do you want?"

"Just a coffee too," Caleb answered.

"Make that two, if you could," Liberty told the cart operator. Only a few moments later, and Liberty carefully handed Caleb one of the cups, and gestured at a nearby bench. They shuffled that way, and sat down.

"Clearly," Liberty said, "you feel guilty about whatever you did to hurt Morgyn."

"So?" Caleb asked.

"It means you still care about Morgyn, silly," Liberty said, smiling. "Hating you wouldn't solve anything. I don't want to hate you anyway, I want to help you and see you happy someday. Hating you generally isn't compatible with that. Plus, it's a lot of effort to hate someone." She paused, taking a drink of coffee, careful not to spill it, and then looked up at the sky. "Morgyn still loves you, you know."

Caleb looked away. He supposed she might know, and he wasn't sure what to make of that.

"I want Morgyn to be happy, too," Liberty said. "You made Morgyn happy once."

Caleb looked back over at her. "You want us back together?" he asked. "Are you _nuts_?"

Liberty released a sigh. "Love is blind, Caleb," she said.

"I don't even _deserve_ Morgyn," Caleb said.

"There is no deserves or not deserves in love," Liberty said. "Everyone deserves someone that loves them, for who they are. People like you, maybe especially so."

"People like me?" Caleb asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I can see it," she said, smiling. "You love with your whole heart. You and Morgyn seem well suited to each other. You can at least match Morgyn's fire when you want to, and Morgyn can handle yours. What a nice pair you make."

"I don't want to hurt Morgyn again," Caleb said.

"Then stop," Liberty answered, and she made it seem so simple and easy, that for a long moment, he wondered if maybe it really was.


	10. I Like the Way it Hurts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a roller coaster of Caleb no! Good! Wait no! YES! WAIT BAD!
> 
> Next chapter things start getting real. But this one wore me out and I need to go eat and maybe cry a little idk…
> 
> Also our water heater went out. Rofl
> 
> Love the Way You Lie (Pt. II); Rihanna, Eminem

It was late, and he should probably just find somewhere else to go and spend his time, but he wasn't done with this song. Caleb wanted to get it done, but then, it was for Morgyn. Given he and Morgyn weren't _talking_ anymore, he supposed it didn't fucking _matter_ when, or even if, he got it done. His feelings for the blond hadn't changed much. If anything, they'd gotten stronger in the time they'd been apart, and Caleb likely should've seen that one coming. Of course he still loved Morgyn. Of course his feelings for Morgyn hadn't gone away. They'd only stood for over a hundred years by now. Truth be told, he'd have to be rather an idiot to seriously think he could run from it.

It wasn't like he was trying to. He didn't know what was going through his mind anymore. Like it wasn't his own, now, and that probably wasn't far from the truth. Then, Miss Hell had showed up out of nowhere (why did they always show up at the worst times anyway?) and it felt like his mind was even _less_ his own. She was always messing with his perception of reality. And the sick thing was, he found it fascinating. Fascinating enough not to fight her as hard as he probably should.

But even as she'd hurt him, she'd never really turned away from him, either. When he needed someone, he could always at least count on her being there.

His finger tapped one of the piano keys lightly. At this point, he wasn't even _playing_ anything anymore, just pressing the keys and listening to the piano sing. Music had always made him feel better. It was his way of getting his feelings out, when he had nothing else to turn to, or things were so complicated even in his own head that he had no other choice but to try expressing it in a way that didn't involve words. Caleb and words, they never did get along very well.

He was good at them, mind. At least, until it mattered. And then he had so much trouble saying what he meant and explaining how he felt, because words never felt entirely right to him.

As he sat there plunking on the keys, a blur of colour appeared in his periphery. Caleb looked up, finding Liberty standing there. Immediately, he stopped pressing the keys. She looked a little disappointed, but she didn't argue with him.

"The door was open," she said, "and I thought I recognised your backpack outside it."

"So you wandered in?" he asked.

"Yeah," Liberty said. "I can go, if you'd rather be alone-"

"No," Caleb interrupted. "Please, stay."

Liberty smiled, and then settled down in a chair nearby. "Been thinking a lot?" she asked.

"Yeah," Caleb said. "Something like that. My ex is in town, too."

Liberty's nose wrinkled, and he snorted slightly. It was cute.

"You probably shouldn't talk to your ex," Liberty said. "Not that I think you are, but you know, if you were thinking about it. It's a bad idea. Exes are exes for a reason."

Yeah, he knew that. There _was_ a reason he and Miss Hell hadn't lasted long (mostly because Lilith had threatened to shove a wine glass through her throat, and to be honest, in hindsight, Caleb was _disappointed_ it didn't happen, that'd have been a sight).

"It's complicated," he said. No matter how much he wanted to walk away from her, she _was_ still his sire, and that kind of complicated things. Or maybe it didn't complicate things and Miss Hell had lied about _that_ , too. She lied about everything, why not that? Lilith didn't seem to have this issue with Vladislaus. That guy was evil too, but he was a different sort of evil. Less interest in causing terrible things directly, he seemed to have, and more in simply letting terrible things cause themselves and watching the chaos.

Lilith had gotten the good sire of the two. Lilith got the good one of almost everything, so that wasn't surprising either. (He wasn't jealous of Lilith.) (He was a little jealous of Lilith. _Everything_ seemed easier for her.)

"Well, I won't judge you," Liberty said. "You can explain it, if you want to. I don't have anything else to do today. Except go shopping with my mother, and listen to me, there's nothing I'd rather be doing less than shopping with my mother. Why she even insists on taking me shopping with her anyway, I'm twenty-two and I don't live with her anymore, that I don't know. Maybe because I speak Simlish better than she does, but Charity doesn't even speak Mandarin at all."

Caleb smiled slightly. "It seems annoying to you now," he said, "but when she's gone, you'll be glad she did."

Liberty smiled notably brighter than he was. "I know," she said. "Complaining about it is also in the rulebook somewhere."

"You got a rulebook?" Caleb asked.

Liberty laughed her beautiful laugh, and some of the tension in him started to unwind.

"Did Morgyn happen to tell you…" he started, and then trailed off, not sure how to word it. If she didn't know Morgyn was a spellcaster, then Caleb didn't want to incidentally tell her.

Liberty squinted. "The transgender thing or the makes fire from nothing thing?" she asked.

Caleb blinked. "The makes fire from nothing thing," he said. "Though it's not really from nothing, it's more like-"

"It burns off the wick of the caster's inherent magical energy kind of like metaphysical propane," Liberty said.

"You've had that conversation I see," Caleb said.

"Apparently," Liberty said, "I also can make fire from nothing."

Ah. So he was right, and it _was_ magic he was sensing from her before. It was good that Morgyn had found her without Caleb's help then, given he hadn't ended up a lot of help in that regard at all.

"Do you?" Liberty asked.

"No," Caleb said, shaking his head. "Well, my sister and I have magical blood somewhere in our ancestry, but it's blooded out enough we're not magical by default. Lilith and I, we're vampires instead."

Liberty looked surprised, and then her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"I'm immune to sunlight," Caleb said. "You can get used to it and stop burning up in it eventually. The first of us, he's the only one I've ever seen use light magic before." But Kassander could indeed use light magic, and it was as fascinating as it was terrifying.

Liberty nodded. "I see," she said. "Wow, my life is getting _really_ interesting suddenly. Morgyn didn't even tell me vampires exist. But I'm not surprised. Werewolves and stuff exist too then?"

Caleb snorted. "I've heard of them," he said. "Never met one myself, but they exist somewhere. In some places you can sense fairies, too, and genies also exist. Never met a genie either, but they don't sound terribly pleasant."

"I've heard some stories," Liberty said. "Have to agree with them not sounding terribly pleasant."

"It's a bit much, isn't it?" Caleb asked. "Suddenly being something else one day."

"Yeah," Liberty said, nodding. "But nothing really changed all the same. It's not like I suddenly became someone else. Magic was always in me, if Morgyn's right and I was born this way like Morgyn was. It's just that now my perception of self has changed a little. That can be hard to deal with too, but it's somehow a little comforting to think that nothing really changed at all. I guess it'd be different for a vampire. You're not born that way I assume."

"Vampires _can_ be born," Caleb said. "Lilith and I just weren't. She chose it. I made the wrong friends. She chose it _because_ I made the wrong friends."

"I see," Liberty said. "And you've never forgiven yourself for that, have you?"

Caleb looked over at her. And then down at the piano keys.

"She made that choice, Caleb," Liberty said. "Because she loves you, I assume. You don't seem like the type we leave alone to me, either. And it doesn't make it your fault. She still had a choice. And something tells me if your roles were reversed, you'd have done the exact same thing she did."

Caleb released a sigh, closing his eyes for a moment, and then looked back up at her. "How did you know?" he asked.

Liberty shrugged. "I've always been good at reading people," she said. "I think it's part of my scientific mind. I think critically and I like to understand, not just experience."

Caleb snorted. "You know," he said, "understanding things instead of experiencing them sounds like a nice thing."

Liberty smiled, and then stood up. "I should go," she said. "If you ever need someone to talk to, you're welcome to call me."

Caleb looked down at the piano keys. "Thanks," he said.

"I mean it," Liberty said, shuffling over to bump her hip against his side. She smelled like rice and something floral, and weirdly like electricity. "Even if it's at three in the morning, okay?"

"That seems really rude," Caleb said.

"Your true friends will be absolutely willing to tell you you're an idiot at three in the morning," Liberty said. "I'd do it. Maybe nicer though."

Caleb snorted.

"I'll tell you this before I go," she said. "Pain is inevitable. A lot of things in life are going to hurt. But no one can make you suffer from it except you." She bumped into his side again, and then turned and headed out the door. And Caleb wondered.

She sure was some kind of a wonder. She was also right.

* * *

How did she always know what to say to make him feel a little better? She was almost as much the sun as Morgyn was, somehow in a slightly different way. She wasn't as loud about it as Morgyn was, and also was. It was such a strange thing, Caleb had to wonder what the fuck was going through his head exactly. Who the hell knew anymore? Certainly Caleb had no bleeding idea what he was thinking. There was just something about Liberty. She was awfully magnetic somehow, and thinking about it, he wondered if Liberty and Morgyn would work together better. She was more Morgyn's speed, no matter what she said about them.

Unconsciously, Caleb moved the swing he was sitting on back and forth. It didn't really matter if he was moving or not, he just needed the time to think. Caleb was doing a lot of that thinking thing nowadays. It wasn't like he didn't have a lot to think about anyway. For all that he was thinking a lot, though, he didn't have a whole lot of answers. Wasn't that what thinking was for? Coming up with answers? If he wasn't going to get answers for the thinking he was doing, then what was the point in wasting all the time thinking about whatever it was? Eh. Maybe it didn't matter.

Not far away, there was a group of kids playing pirates. There were times when he wondered what it was like to be a kid. Caleb didn't really remember his childhood, and never mind it was probably not much like a childhood would be now, given the time period. He did remember Lilith had a habit of climbing trees, in dresses, and pissing off their parents. As a kid, Caleb found it hilarious. It was still kind of amusing now that he was older, but he had a different view of it. Their parents were awfully strict with her, and Caleb wondered why that was. Just because she was a girl? They always said things about how Lilith was a girl, and she had to grow up into a graceful and composed young woman, and not embarrass their family by being wild and uncontrolled.

Caleb didn't get it. Maybe he never would.

He turned his head, watching the pigeons not far away, picking through the sand to find seeds and such. Or maybe they were looking for rocks. Birds didn't have the means of grinding up their food and used rocks, if he remembered right. He didn't remembered where he'd learnt that, but he thought maybe it was from Morgyn or Ezio. They both had heads full of random trivia that was as weird as it was fascinating. Caleb's head was full of weird information about foods and sometimes about certain plants. He also knew a good deal about nutrition and the kinds of things a human body needed to function properly, and weirdly, he'd retained a lot of information about the different vitamins and minerals, and what they did in a human.

It wasn't like it came in handy for anything. Barring, maybe, making sure that Ezio ate right, and Morgyn too. Morgyn didn't have any real dietary restrictions, but after Ezio had developed his heart condition and started seeing a doctor about it, it was up to Caleb and Drake to make sure he ate right, things that weren't going to aggravate his condition. He'd made it this long, though. Caleb kind of considered it something of a win. He was still alive.

And it was a good thing that he was. Because without Ezio in it, the world would be a little darker of a place. He didn't realise this, of course. He had no idea what kind of a light he was to so many people, but Caleb couldn't say anything. He had no idea what he meant to other people, either. Most of the time, it felt like he was just in everyone's way. They all had things they wanted to do, dreams they were chasing and futures they were building. Caleb was just taking it one day at a time, because he couldn't think too far ahead without getting suddenly overwhelmed. It was all too much for him. He had ideas of what he might want, but maybe some part of him was, and always would be, afraid of reaching for it.

His vision started to blur, and Caleb looked down at the dirt under the swingset. He wondered what Morgyn was up to. If the blond was talking to Liberty about books and nerding out over comics. Every day without Morgyn made the pain a little stronger, the loneliness a little more consuming. It was hard to think and feel anything around it, and the drugs weren't helping as much as they used to.

Most likely, he should feed at some point. Caleb didn't remember the last time he had, but he didn't remember a lot of anything right now. When had he and Morgyn broken up, anyway? He didn't know the answer to that either. Maybe a week or two ago by now, he didn't know. He shook his head, reaching up and brushing his tears away. Now that he was thinking about it, he kind of regretted not staying where he was in Ezio's arms a little longer. He didn't hurt, not like Miss Hell did. Lying on him and listening to his delicate little heart thunder in his chest, somehow it made him feel a little better. Caleb didn't want to think about it, the time when Ezio was gone in the future, but Caleb was going to really miss him.

He should go home. There wasn't anything out here for him anyway, everything and everyone he'd ever cared about was in Spire Apartments now, up there in Uptown, above San Myshuno, higher up than Caleb felt like he belonged. But if he didn't belong with them, then where else did he belong? Maybe nowhere. He was still afraid of going back. Lilith had send him bunches of texts and called several times, because he hadn't been home in a long time, but still, something in his head told him they would be angry with him. Because he just was who he was and who Caleb was turned out not to be a great person.

Instead, Caleb stood up, the swing shaking slightly, and headed for the bar. He needed to be higher than this.

* * *

"Hey, give me that," one of the others said, reaching for the joint that was being passed around.

Caleb sat off to one side, mostly watching the others. He had his own joint thank you, and he didn't need their help. He didn't _want_ their help getting high, either. Most of them, he'd seen them around before, but he didn't really remember anyone's name. Their names didn't matter when you were flipping between taking drags off a joint of synthetics and drinking a glass of vodka or whatever the fuck it was (as if anyone paid any real attention), and making out with whats-her-name.

"I didn't skip you," someone else said.

"You tried!"

Caleb snorted under his breath. And then he wondered, in the back of his head, if this was what he wanted the rest of his life to be like. He used to have other ideas. Opening a restaurant of his own someday. Writing music for big-name productions and performing in concert halls. Morgyn Vatore might've been somewhere on the list. Or Caleb Ember, if that was what Morgyn wanted.

He sighed, pulling his legs up onto the chair he was sitting in, resting his shins against the armrest.

"Ey man," one of the others said, shuffling over to his chair and kneeling down. "You seem kind of depressed anymore."

Caleb glanced over at him, and shrugged. "Bad breakup," he said.

"You sure about that?" the other answered, raising an eyebrow.

Caleb sighed. "Yeah, I'm sure," he said.

"Cause it seems like that dark and dangerous lady of yours is making you somebody you're not, that's all," the other said.

Caleb glanced down at him. "And what's that supposed to mean?" he asked.

"Exactly what I said," he answered. "You know, there's kind of a taboo around it, nobody talks about it anymore, but if she's abusing you, man, we can-"

"She's not," Caleb said. Except, she was, and he knew that. He'd known that for a long time.

"That was too quick man," the man answered. "Look, I know we all just kind of get high and ruin our own lives around here, but man, this is all we got sometimes. I know we ain't really friends, but if you need anything, just ask."

Yeah, they weren't really friends. They all got fucked up together and forgot the bad things that existed in the world, and maybe they didn't know each other's names or where they were all from, but there were times when that didn't seem to make any difference. Thinking about it, he realised he'd seen them taking care of each other from time to time. Moving the one that passed out on the bar somewhere less exposed. Pairing the girls off with one or two guys just to make them look like they were spoken for and keep predators off them. Accompanying each other to the bathroom because everyone needed someone to hold their hair.

Maybe they weren't friends. But maybe they were just slightly to the left of being friends.

Caleb didn't say anything. Eventually, the guy gave him a strained smile, and then went back over to where he'd been before. But Caleb was already thinking. He didn't belong here, no matter how much they liked to try and help him belong. He had friends already. He had somewhere he was meant to be already. It wasn't here. For all that here wasn't that bad of a place to be, he should've never come here in the first place.

He should just go home, and never come back here again.

But even if Morgyn would forgive him, he didn't know if he could forgive himself. No one could make you suffer but yourself, huh? That was what Liberty had said. She was right. He knew she was. He wondered if it was possible to kind of _like_ suffering. They had a word for that… Caleb didn't think he was one of those. He didn't like it. So what was he still doing here?

Fuck, he wasn't _high_ enough for this shit. Caleb snorted, more to himself, taking a drag off his joint again. Or he would've, if it was still lit.

Caleb lowered his hand, staring at it. He could quit this. He could stop, and Ezio was right and he should. It wasn't even doing anything for him anymore, he had to smoke more and more of it to get the relaxation effect he was after. It was like burning money. Almost fucking literally. Ezio could probably help him stop, if he asked.

He didn't know if he _could_ ask. Ezio did too much for everybody as it was. Maybe he was on his own with this one. Caleb didn't know if Morgyn would help. If Morgyn knew the truth, would the blond hate him? Then again, Ezio was on a thousand different things. Maybe Morgyn would understand.

Maybe that was all Caleb wanted, someone to understand.

He wasn't thinking right. Caleb stood up, putting the rest of his joint in a pocket, and shuffling off through the crowd. Waking up against Ezio still occasionally flickered through his mind, the feel of his skin against Caleb's like a haunting memory he couldn't get out of his system. It only made him _want_ Ezio, but he knew that was a pipe dream, too. Ezio wasn't going to want him so long as Morgyn was still in love with him.

Miss Hell would just have to suffice. She was here somewhere, he just had to find her. And finding her usually wasn't too difficult of an endeavour when he bothered to try. Fuck, sometimes, when he _didn't_ bother to try, sometimes she came to him. There was a reason for that, he was sure. He decided not to think about it.

* * *

It didn't take long for her to find him. Caleb didn't think it would. She shuffled over to him, crossing her arms over her chest in such a way as to accentuate her assets, popping one hip out further than should be comfortable. She didn't say anything right away, just smiled at him coyly.

Caleb snorted. "What?" he asked. Just because he'd half gone looking for her didn't mean he was going to make it easy.

"You know what," she answered, smirking. "You sure come here a lot. You even have a place to live right now?"

"I do," Caleb said. "I just don't want to go home."

"Lilith's awfully insufferable, huh?" she asked.

Caleb shrugged. A stab of annoyance shot through him, but he didn't say anything about that. It wasn't important right now.

She reached over and ran a hand up his arm, over his shoulder. He almost moved his arm and shoved her into the wall, but he thought, for once, maybe if he behaved, it wouldn't hurt as much as it usually did. "You're not as closed off as normal," she said. "Did something change?"

Caleb shook his head. "Nope," he said. "Still fucking hate you. That didn't change."

"Hate is still some kind of an emotion, Caleb," Miss Hell said, smirking, trailing her fingers up his neck. "You still thinking about getting that spellcaster of yours back?"

Caleb shrugged.

"Aww, come on, of course you are," she said. "But you know, there's a dark side in you too." Surprisingly gently, she tapped his nose. "I wonder what your spellcaster would think of it? Would Morgyn still love you so much, if he knew you were out here getting high and fucking random people?"

"I haven't slept with anyone," Caleb said.

"That's not what I heard," she said. "And maybe in that situation the point isn't whether it happened or not. It's whether whoever hears about it _believes_ it happened. Let me think, isn't Morgyn a whore?"

"Shut up," Caleb said softly.

"I thought so," Miss Hell answered. "And you didn't like that, right? Isn't that what you said? How scandelous, holding that against Morgyn and then fucking around in a bar."

"I didn't-"

"Ah ah," she said, reaching up and tapping his nose again. "Remember what I said. It doesn't matter if it happened or not, only what the one that hears it believes. I should think your spellcaster would be very hurt to hear about that… oh dear, what ever will we do about that?"

"Don't you fucking dare tell Morgyn anything," Caleb said, shoving her into the wall with a slight snarl before he could think about it.

"Ohh, is that a sore spot?" she asked, sounding positively delighted.

"Just stop it," Caleb said. "Are you doing anything later?"

"Nope," she said, smiling. "I'm yours all night, at least until I lose track of you. Why?"

Caleb shrugged, shook his head, and looked away.

"I see," she said. "You're lonely, aren't you?" One hand reached over, turning his head back towards her, and her lips met his. In hindsight, he had no idea how, but somehow, it went from her against the wall to him against the wall. Her body was right up against his, grinding slightly, her tongue diving into his mouth, and somehow it didn't chase it away. A slight jolt told him that it was making it worse. Of course it was.

She wasn't Morgyn, and she would never _be_ Morgyn.

Still, he reached down, his hands sliding down her thighs. A shift, and her legs wrapped around his waist, him holding her up against him. She separated from him, and he followed her for a moment.

"Don't move," she said. The notable sensation of mist porting answered his unspoken question, and he was leaning against a different wall.

She slid out of his grasp, reaching down and slipping his shirt over his head. He trailed kisses down her neck, and worked her shirt off her shoulders. He recognised the sounds; she lived somewhere in San Myshuno, but he didn't really care right now, too busy littering her floor with their clothes as they steadily backed their way to the bed.

They fell to the sheets. Her nails ran down his back, not hard enough to hurt him, not yet. A shiver ran down his spine, her hand slipped into his pants, and they almost started to become one at the lips. His hands ran down her side, over her thighs. She leaned into his touch, made him remember why hers was so addictive even as he knew it was a bad idea. No one ever did love him like she did. Some would consider that a good thing, but if it was either her or the crushing loneliness…

"Move," she whispered. "I want you out of these." Her hand tugged against his waistband.

Caleb breathed out heavily, and then started to shift around so that she could slip his pants off.

 _Caleb_ …

He startled, and pulled away from her, sitting on his knees. That wasn't her, that was in his head.

"Caleb," she said. "What happened?"

He was quiet, focusing on the whatever was in his head. It was just his name, but the voice, it sounded like Lilith. It was soft, and quiet, like she was barely there, somewhere amid falling asleep maybe. She didn't sound panicked, or anything. But his nerves all alighted like something was _wrong_ , and later, he'd wonder what made him think that. He didn't have time to wonder right now.

"Lilith," he said, still catching his breath. "She needs me."

"Oh pfft," Miss Hell said, waving her hand and sitting up to crawl over into his lap. "Ignore her. Lilith isn't really important right now."

He'd been avoiding her. He did remember Lilith was taking Forgotten Hollow back. Come to think of it, she was taking it back from Markus and _Miss Hell_. Was that why she was here in San My? Because Lilith had driven her out of Forgotten Hollow? But of course Lilith would've. Miss Hell wasn't half of what Lilith was. If she needed him, then maybe all of _this_ was a distraction. Sarnai was awake. Caleb didn't think Miss Hell could possibly send a vampire of _Sarnai's_ calibre after Lilith, but she may know she was going to hit her. It didn't even matter why Sarnai would want to. Maybe she wanted the Hollow next.

Anger flickered across his face. And immediately, he backed away from her, off the bed, and found his shirt on the floor.

"Caleb, come _back here_ ," Miss Hell demanded.

"I'm not letting you take away the only thing I have left," he said, and turned and went for the front door. And maybe he'd run all the way there.

* * *

It smelled like smoke, dust, and the remnants of a magic signature Caleb recognised as Drake's. Caleb reached the edge of the Hollow, and at first glance, nothing seemed off or wrong. But Lilith had called him here for a reason, he knew it, and she was here somewhere. As he glanced around, he noticed the tower of Wolfsbane was missing from the skyline. As he tilted his head trying to figure out why that was, catch his breath from running so far, he heard a hissing sound at his feet. He looked down, finding a grey tabby at his feet.

"Hi there," he said. "I can't play right now, okay?" Not that he thought every cat really wanted to play, but it was a thought.

The cat somehow looked really annoyed, and bolted off into the Hollow. Then, it stopped, turned around and meowed at him impatiently. It wanted him to follow it.

Caleb took a breath in, and released it, and followed the tabby. It led down the road, and then over to where Wolfsbane Manor was, or, as he soon found out, where it _used_ to be. The scent of blood wafted over to him, and Caleb shot over there. Their old house was in so many pieces it was hard to even recognise where everything used to be. He could see the streaks of red all over the place, and if he was scenting it right, he thought it was Lilith's blood.

"Lilith?" he called. "Lilith!" This much damage might be enough to threaten her life if she didn't get plasma and quickly. Shit, she could bite him if they didn't have any other choice, it wouldn't work nearly as well, just buy some time, but it was better than nothing.

Caleb sifted through the wreckage, eventually throwing a shard of wall to one side. He found her hand, poking out from between the pieces of wall and what he thought was a cabinet (was this the kitchen?). Somehow, her bracelet had stayed around her wrist despite whatever the fuck had happened here. Caleb shifted, shoving another piece of wall off of her, kicking a bit of splintered cabinet out of the way, and unburying her.

She was alive, at least, but there was a shard of wood through her abdomen, a piece of the door frame she seemed to have crashed into, and blood everywhere. Caleb couldn't help it. His vision blurred, and he loosed a whine, pulling her over into his arms. "I'm so sorry," he said. "Lilith I'm sorry."

He had to fix this. And maybe take apart whatever had done this to her in the first place. Then, if she couldn't defeat whatever it was, Caleb would likely just be suiciding on it. He'd decide if he was suiciding on it when he figured out if Lilith was going to make it or not. Caleb couldn't imagine losing her. She'd always been there for him, even when he wasn't there for her. He had to fix this, somehow. Okay, the first thing to do would be finding her a source of plasma. Caleb rocked slightly in place, petting her short blonde hair, and then gently set her down and stood up.

As soon as he did, he sensed a burst of psychic energy. Instinctively, he instantly ducked back down. The blast hit the tree line behind their used-to-be-here house, and Caleb turned towards where it'd come from. Dark skin, black hair, violet eyes; his eyes widened, and he immediately zipped around behind her. She turned with him, firing off several blasts of psychic energy. Caleb dodged every dang one, at least as well as he could. One exploded too close to him and sent him flying backwards, but he eventually caught himself and flipped back around. He stood up, intending to take back off, but Sarnai threw a tendril of shadow at him, and threw him into a tree, pinning him against it by his neck.

Oh that actually really hurt, Caleb found. The shadow burnt into his skin somehow. He wriggled around, trying to pull the tendril off his neck but it was stronger than it looked like.

Sarnai looked positively amused. And then she didn't look so amused, screeching slightly as a piece of wood slammed into her. The tendril released him, and he hit the grass, sitting up. The wood had blood on it… he looked over where Lilith was. She'd stood up, ripped the beam out of her and used it as a weapon. She didn't look like herself, not entirely, her eyes blackened, her skin somewhat ashy toned.

"Lilith no!" Caleb squeaked, but it was too late. Lilith shot a burst of psychic energy, and another, and another… so many Caleb couldn't keep track of how many were airborne at once. Sarnai snarled in annoyance, blocking them as rapidly as she could, but Lilith didn't let up, unleashing _still_ more of them. They weren't very strong, but they would add up if Sarnai let herself get hit with them. Lilith opened her mouth and unleashed a screech-hiss the likes of which Caleb had never heard come out of her before.

"You _stay away from him_!" she spat somewhere in there, in rapid Spanish, so rapid Caleb almost didn't catch it. Still she fired more bolts. Still Sarnai blocked them.

And then, she seemed to figure out that Lilith was going to kill her or die trying, and Sarnai turned and vanished in a burst of mist. The remaining handful of psychic bolts crashed into the tree line. Lilith wobbled, took a breath in, and fell. Instantly, Caleb shot up and bolted over, diving to catch her before she hit the concrete and damaged herself even more.

"Lilith," he said, brushing her hair out of her face, "stay with me, okay, I've gotta get you plasma. Somehow. I have no idea how."

Lilith smiled slightly, out of it as she was, and then her head fell back and her eyes closed.

"Lil no," Caleb spluttered, his vision blurring all over again. No, no he didn't have time for this, he had to fix this. He pulled her up off the concrete, into his arms, and he turned back around to set her somewhere more safe than the road, when he caught sight of the cat. It was running up towards Straud manor.

Right, Lilith had control of Straud manor now. If Caleb tried, he might be able to get the power nexus to make a barrier, at least something until Drake could come back and put his barrier back in place. Caleb breathed out, tried to swallow his tears, and ran up the hill, into Straud manor. Gently, Caleb got her settled down on one of the couches, and then looked around. The tabby came in, screeching the whole way, and turned towards something. Caleb tilted his head, following it. It was scratching at a painting on the wall. Caleb moved it, and found, of course, a safe behind it.

Vlad always was kind of predictable.

The cat turned the knob this way and that, popping it open. Caleb blinked. But inside were a humongous stash of plasma packs, medical grade, even.

"Kit," he said, "I have no idea how you knew how to open that damned thing, but thank you." Caleb reached in, pulling out a handful of packs, and then ran back to Lilith.


	11. I Don't Wanna Be An Angel

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, fun trivia, I forgot to mention last chapter, it was the first and currently the only chapter in all of Of Frost and Fire that was told entirely from Caleb’s pov. Uhh I have no idea if he will get another entire chapter to himself. Maybe someday. But not anytime soon because man that was a huge dose of feelings what the shit.
> 
> We’re also now like ten chapters away from the end of TMA. If I keep up my two chapter a day pace, we will reach the end in five days, so on the last day of August. I don’t know if I will be able to do it because some of the upcoming chapters are very hard and I will probably have to stop frequently on them while writing them to get my feelings in check.
> 
> But even then, even if I end up slowing back down to one chapter a day, I’ve already cut the projected finish time by almost a week. And I think I can knock out 55 and 56 pretty quickly too. 57, 58, and 59 will be very hard. 60 may also not be very easy, but will be rewarding in its own right. Honestly though, it’s about to take a sudden nosedive into really-dark.
> 
> I was saying earlier that like, I ended up cutting out the book between TMA and CMH because it was slurring into TMA. Like TMA is so long now it needed more Stuff To Do I guess because it started absorbing some stuff that was meant to be in the next book. There are many events in TMA’s rewrite that were planned back in the original outlines for the next book which at the time was SML, and there are more of those too on the way. It’s not like SML started tacking itself onto the end of where original TMA ended, it was more like SML began to weave itself into TMA. So I found I was writing both books at once not long after starting TMA’s rewrite and it was like okay well there’s no point in writing this as a separate book now because I had nothing left for it except a few TMA wrap-up points.
> 
> Probably for the best because I have a thousand other things to do here too. I’m also really squinting at this like I don’t know how to handle this for the original version of this but maybe it would be better to cut these books into smaller pieces and have more books and less words per. Well, some decent books were published at over 100k, so I guess I could do it anyway. I have no idea.
> 
> You know it seems like such a weird debate to have. “Hmmm, will people be mad at me for giving them a LOT of words? Maybe they don’t want that many words? This book will literally be entertainment for three days but maybe that’s a bad thing!” The mind of a writer I stg. You know that sound a fork makes in the garbage disposal? That’s the sound my brain makes more often than I care to admit.
> 
> Listen. I just want to say, I love Liberty, I love Caleb, and I love Lilith, and my grandma, and… everyone. Okay? I love everyone. I also really love Ezio and I hope I can save him from dying because I love him and He Deserved Better. Like, look Final Fantasy XV? It did its entire cast dirty. All of it. The entire cast. No one was spared. Not even the children. Okay? And the end of Of Frost and Fire? It feels like Final Fantasy XV. No one is spared. Everyone gets a crappy ending of some kind.
> 
> And a shitty ending for you, and a shitty ending for YOU… I’m rambling because this chapter eventually kind of hurt me. But Sarnai had to play this one dirty last time, too, so I’m not surprised she did it again.
> 
> P.S. Honestly, I’ve just been hand-waving the fight scenes unless they’re important. Fight scenes and smut can both get SO tedious when they’re done to death.
> 
> Engel, Rammstein. Translated to English, mind you, but still.

Where in the fuck all did he put it… ah, there it was. Ezio reached over onto his side table, picking up the pen he was looking for and tossing it into his messenger bag. He was almost late for class, but not quite. Fortunately, his professors all _liked_ him, so if he was late to class here and there, most of the time, they didn't really mind it too much. It didn't mean he should make a habit of pushing his luck, but it did mean when he was honestly late, it wasn't that big of a deal.

Ezio shuffled around, getting the rest of what he needed for class gathered together. He could make it just in time. All things considered, he could _probably_ get away with skipping entirely, it wasn't like Ezio didn't know the material. Come to think of it, he could probably get away with skipping the rest of classes for the term and only going back for his exams. Was he going to?

No.

Amid looking for something, he popped open his side table drawer, and then paused for a moment, gaze on the ring boxes. He hadn't given them to either Cassandra _or_ Drake, hadn't even hinted that he had them, of course. He had to wait for the right time. You didn't just randomly pop the question, it had to be perfect. The mood, the atmosphere, the conversation, down to the last detail. Or maybe Ezio just worried too much about things that didn't make any difference to anyone that wasn't him. On the other hand, Cassandra and Drake seemed to appreciate that he cared, at least?

He released a sigh, sitting down on the bed and taking one of the boxes out of his drawer. Was it stupid to want to marry them both? He didn't know how this was supposed to go, but he did know that he was happiest when he had them both. It wasn't like one or the other wasn't enough by themselves, it was just that they shouldn't have to be? Was that even right? Ugh, now his thoughts weren't making any sense.

Ezio knew he wanted them both. And he knew he'd like to spend the rest of his life with Drake. Shit, he already _kind of had_ , at least spent several lifetimes worth with him, and Ezio didn't regret a single second of it. Sometimes he thought Drake _should_ , but clearly he felt the same way, given he had yet to go.

And Cassandra? Psh, he had no idea why he'd gotten so attached to her. One of them made him feel safe, the other made him feel alive, and they both made him feel loved. Maybe it was selfish to want both of those things. And maybe he should just stop thinking about it and listen to his heart for once. Ezio had spent his _whole life_ not chasing the things he wanted for fear that he wouldn't get anything he wanted anyway. If this was to be his last run, the last thing he ever did, maybe before he went out, he should get a little selfish and decide he wanted something just because he fucking _wanted_ it. Because above everything else, Cassandra and Drake made him unbelievably happy, happier than he'd ever thought he'd be, so much so it felt like he didn't deserve it.

To be fair about it, he'd been seeing Cassandra off and on since the eighties, randomly here and there. Sometimes someone he knew turned into her, but more often, he saw her for just a split second on the subway, watching him from half a car away. And then suddenly the apparitions had stopped, right around 2000. When she would've been born, no doubt. Like he'd been seeing a ghost and then that ghost wasn't a spirit anymore.

Sometimes, he thought, she'd chosen him, long before she was even born.

It was a stupid thing to think, wasn't it? Ezio smiled to himself, putting the ring box back with the other one and sliding the drawer closed. Then, he stood up and shuffled over to the closet (he had a closet now), pulling clothes out of it. Half of the closet was Morgyn's, the other half was his. Okay, it was more like, two thirds of the closet was Morgyn's, and if Ezio was lucky he had a little extra room for a few sweaters or something. He wasn't sure what to wear today, but plaid was always a good choice. He pulled one of his plaid shirts out and a black turtleneck, and backed up. Looking at it, the closet was partially red and partially black. Huh.

No one had ever said the Embers weren't somewhat predictable.

He pulled his pyjama shirt off, quickly replacing it with the turtleneck and then the plaid, fixed his makeup, and slid his glasses on. Time for another lovely day of learning he supposed. Mayor Whiskers meowed and jumped onto the bed. Ezio smiled, reached down, and petted him. He didn't wear his hat anymore because he kept losing it in the apartment in Culpepper. How he'd managed not to lose it on the street, that one Ezio didn't know.

"Watch the house okay?" Ezio said quietly.

Mayor gave him a look that almost looked like a 'duh.'

Ezio laughed quietly, slipping his messenger bag over his shoulder. Something felt wrong, now, and Ezio thought Miss Hell was in San Myshuno now. Caleb hadn't been home in so long it almost didn't matter, but Ezio was starting to wonder if he'd also gotten caught up with her. It wasn't like he knew where she was. He could only hope that, wherever _Caleb_ was, he was making better decisions, and eventually came to his senses on his own. It was funny, because Ezio could've fallen in love with him, he thought. Morgyn had just done it first, and Ezio wouldn't do that to the blond.

Ezio gave Mayor a scritch under the chin, and then scurried off for the elevator.

* * *

"Soooo," Morgyn said, flopping over on the back of the couch and reaching over to bump a fist lightly against Ezio's forehead.

Ezio looked up at Morgyn, and huffed slightly. "So what?" he asked.

"I heard something, you know, I wasn't trying to it just sort of happened, about a date this weekend?" Morgyn answered.

Of course the blond had heard about that. Why wouldn't the blond have heard about that? Of all the things. Well, Ezio supposed that was really just kind of a given. These sorts of things, they didn't stay quiet for very long. Who knew, maybe Cassandra told her mom over the phone or something. She and Bella did talk a good deal. Probably, Cassandra kind of missed her. She could go see her whenever, but she never seemed to want to.

"What about it?" Ezio asked.

"What _not_ about it?" Morgyn answered, moving around the couch to sit down next to him. "I mean come on, we haven't spoken in like a week or something, give me details here. They get along? They're not upset about this arrangement? No one's got hurt feelings? Are you going out with Drake later to make up for this time?"

Ezio snorted, reaching over and taking Morgyn's hand. "Calm down," he said. "Somehow, things are going okay. I keep expecting it to change, one or the other of them to decide they're not happy anymore, but it hasn't happened."

"You're okay with it too then?" Morgyn asked, shifting around to face him.

"Yeah," Ezio answered, smiling just slightly. "I think this is the happiest I've ever been."

Morgyn smiled. "I'm glad," the blond said. "You deserve a little happiness."

"Drake's coming on this date, too," Ezio said. "And I got them both rings."

"Wait, like, _rings_ rings?" Morgyn asked, eyebrows raising.

Ezio nodded. "Exactly like that," he said.

" _What_?!" Morgyn shrieked.

"Wow, remember that thing about calm down?" Ezio asked, laughing slightly.

"Oh my god!" Morgyn said.

Ezio laughed some more.

"Ahhh oh my god! Oh my god. Ohmigosh what the fuck am I going to wear?" Morgyn asked, going a little wide-eyed.

"Something red," Ezio answered flatly, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, _yes_ ," Morgyn said. "But I own a lot of clothes and ninety-nine percent of my closet is red."

Ezio smiled and shook his head. "It's not that special," he said.

"Are you kidding?" Morgyn asked. "This is so special, Ezio, I didn't think I'd ever see you get married. What name are you guys taking? How does that work? Can you _actually_ marry them both?"

Truth be told, Ezio hadn't thought about it too much. He supposed that registering his marriage to Drake wouldn't be necessarily _important_. All things considered, they'd been practically married for over a century, the piece of paper and official record didn't mean anything.

Well, _he_ didn't think so. Maybe Drake would think otherwise, it was something to discuss when they got there. They had a _lot_ of things to discuss when they got there. He wanted to say they'd be taking Cassandra's name; hers was more important than Ezio's, at least, and Ezio wasn't interested in being stuck with _Jean's_ last name, even if it _was_ also Drake's. Then again, it'd never really been Drake's, either.

Of course, Drake had never really had a last name that was his. Maybe he _would_ want their marriage registered, even if only to say, he belonged for once. He was wanted, for once.

"I don't know," Ezio said. "I figured we'd work it out when we get there. There are a lot of things for us to talk about when we do."

Morgyn smiled, and then sighed dreamily and rested against Ezio's knee. "You're awfully lucky," the blond said. "I want what you have, someday."

Ezio looked a little upset. Morgyn could _have_ what Ezio had, if Caleb ever got off synthetics. Ezio hadn't told anyone what had happened that day. He didn't intend to. That was Caleb's story to tell, not his. Instead, Ezio reached over and took Morgyn's other hand. "He'll come back," he said. "I believe that."

"I don't know that I do," Morgyn said. "He's been gone for so long half the time I wonder if he's even still alive."

Ezio let one of Morgyn's hands go, reaching up and patting the blond's cheek. "He can't die, silly," Ezio said. "Someone has to be around to love you."

Morgyn gave him a strange look. "You do, right?" the blond asked.

"You know what I mean," he said. "In that way that I can't." Well, what he actually meant was, when Ezio wasn't there to do it anymore, but he thought saying that right now maybe wasn't a very good idea. Morgyn wasn't _terribly_ depressed, just very close, and Ezio didn't want to make it any worse. "In the meantime, cheer up a little mm? Don't want to be a total wreck when he comes back."

"I feel like I should be allowed to be a total wreck when he comes back," Morgyn said, arms crossing, pouting just a slight bit. "He's sure shoved me through the emotional wringer."

Well if it was any consolation, _apparently_ , Caleb was _also_ going through the emotional wringer, which begged the question of why he was still doing this. That was for someone that wasn't Ezio to know, he supposed. Not that Caleb seemed to have the faintest fucking idea what he wanted or why he was doing anything he was doing, either. Probably because, synthetics.

"I know he is," Ezio said. "Don't hurt him too much when he comes back, okay?"

"I make no promises," Morgyn answered, eyes narrowing somewhat.

Ezio smiled. "That's better," he said. "I don't like it when you get mopey, I never know what to do with you."

"Insert ice cream," Morgyn said.

"Any particular flavour?" Ezio asked, looking amused.

"Vanilla's just fine," Morgyn answered. "Though I do really like chocolate chip, and cookie dough. Bonus points if it's chocolate chip cookie dough."

Ezio smiled. "I'll keep that in mind, then." And the next time Morgyn got mopey, the blond may just have ice cream suddenly, instead.

* * *

By some strange miracle, Cassandra was on one side of the couch, and Drake was on the other. She seemed to be reading something, and Drake was scribbling furiously in one of his notebooks. Ezio paused in the entryway, watching them and trying to decide if he wanted to interrupt or not. On the other hand, Ezio really wanted to talk to them, or at least _exist_ around them both, he could worry about the talking to them part later if they didn't want to talk. Before he could think about it too much more and end up feeling like he was intruding on their peace and quiet, Ezio shuffled over there to them and squeezed himself in between them.

"Hi," Cassandra said, almost immediately leaning over onto his shoulder.

Drake smiled. "What's up?" he asked.

"Oh, you know," Ezio said. "Just kind of felt like hanging around my two favourite people. … two of my favourite people, Morgyn's also technically a favourite person." Technically, yes. Though sometimes, he was sure plenty of people _wondered_ , and truth be told, there were times when Ezio himself kind of wondered about it too. But the Embers loved each other very deeply, and also apparently _hated_ each other very deeply, it was a very confusing mess. It wasn't like Ezio didn't know that hate and love were more closely related than anyone would like to believe, so the inability to tell whether they hated or loved each other really shouldn't come as a surprise, he supposed.

"Well," Cassandra said, "we don't mind having you around at least."

"We don't," Drake added. "Are you doing okay? How did the visit with Dr. Williams go?"

Oh yes, he supposed he hadn't said anything about it. "Pretty well," he said. "Troi lowered one of my medication dosages, actually." It would seem he didn't need that one as much as he used to. Which he thought was a good sign, but he supposed they'd see how things went.

His medication was always up and down and all over the place, because they always had a hard time figuring out where he needed to be, and his condition kind of varied wildly too. Well, at least he didn't have to figure it out on his own, nor remember which dose he was on, either.

He also had healed from his scuffle with Sarnai decently well before going to see Troi. She didn't do much besides shake her head at his new scar collection. He was always getting new ones, it seemed like. Maybe he just scarred easily. Considering how many he had, at least a third of his skin was scar tissue, probably. Mostly he tried not to think about it.

"Does your medication change like that a lot?" Cassandra asked.

"Not usually," Drake answered. "He's been on the same dosages and the same medications pretty consistently, but once in a while Troi decides to change one and see if he can handle the new dose. She doesn't seem to like keeping him on higher doses when a lower one will suffice."

"Oooh," Cassandra said. "That makes sense, yeah."

"Hey out of curiosity," Ezio started, "do we have any idea where we're going this weekend?" They'd at least gotten far enough to establish the three of them were going out on a date, somewhere, but they'd never talked about the _where_ now that Ezio was thinking about it. And he supposed it didn't terribly _matter_ that they had no idea where they were going, but he thought that maybe knowing where that was in advanced would help him figure out what to _wear_.

Unlike Morgyn, he didn't own a thousand things that shimmered and shined and flattered all of his curves. As it happened, almost all of what he owned was chosen specifically _not_ to flatter his curves because he _hated_ his curves and his scars and his muscles, and really, everything about his body, he hated it.

Turned out, his body hated him, too, so it was just as well.

"I hadn't really thought about it," Drake said.

"Yeah, me either," Cassandra said.

Ezio smirked, glancing between them both. "So we have no idea," he said.

"I presume you two would prefer to go to a restaurant," Drake said.

"Well, maybe," Ezio said, "but going to a restaurant would be a problem because you wouldn't be able to really eat anything."

"Ah, unless we went to Leones et Lupi," Drake said.

"What's that?" Cassandra asked.

"It's a bar cafe restaurant fusion thing," Ezio said. "It's owned by the Essairs, out in the Windenburg countryside. They happen to serve a lot of plasma fruit-based dishes." Go figure. When your owner was the first vampire ever, you served a lot of, ahem, experimental dishes.

"Ooh," Cassandra said. "That sounds like a good idea then."

"Aw man," Ezio said. "If we go there I'm going to have to find something really nice to wear."

"Ooo, I get to see you dress up for once?" Cassandra asked, smiling.

"He looks really good dressed up," Drake said.

"Hey now," Ezio said, "I feel like something or a few somethings about this are not fair."

Drake smiled.

Cassandra laughed slightly. "How is it not fair?" she asked.

"You're not allowed to swap stories like this," Ezio said.

"Okay," Drake said, "just for that, now I'm going to do it on purpose."

"Wait, hey-" Ezio protested, but it fell on deaf ears.

"The last time he dressed up was that date we had on the balcony, when we first moved here," Drake said. "Wore this gorgeous grey mermaid dress, it was absolutely made to flatter a woman's figure but he pulled it off like a boss of some kind."

"Ahhh, now I'm jealous!" Cassandra said. "You've gotta wear that to something someday."

"I'll probably wear it to Morgyn's wedding if the idiot and the dingbat ever get married," Ezio said.

"Psh, presuming the dingbat ever comes _home_ ," Cassandra said.

Yes. That was very true, and Ezio had no argument. But right now, after Morgyn had spent so long upset over Caleb, Ezio wasn't feeling too generous towards him anyway. So it was really just as well that he had no arguments to defend him with. (Ezio still hadn't told anyone where he was or what he was doing. It felt like the wrong thing to do, but he also thought that telling everyone his business would ruin any trust in him Caleb ever had a glimmer of a hope of having in him.)

Ezio grumbled, fell over onto Drake, and then shifted around so that he was lying partially on Cassandra, too. They both looked surprised, but didn't seem to mind it either.

"I'm going to take a nap," he said. "Life is getting tiring."

"That is fair," Cassandra said. "Have a nice nap."

And maybe when he'd woken up, everything would suck a little less.

* * *

"Do you have any idea what this is?" Morgyn asked. The two were sitting on the floor in the living room, going through old photo albums that Morgyn had dug up out of the closet. It was nice to see these old memories again, Ezio had to admit, moments in time that he'd almost forgotten entirely.

L was such a pudgy adorable thing back in the seventies and eighties. They'd even found a couple of the Vatores. Morgyn had looked a little saddened at finding pictures of Caleb, but hadn't gotten too depressed about it. Maybe Morgyn was starting to move on from it. Just as well. There was no sense in staying so upset about it either.

The blond handed Ezio a particular picture, printed on Kodak paper. Ezio took it, looking at it. Aine by a cauldron, casting magic at it. At least, at first glance she seemed to be. Ezio squinted at it slightly, catching sight of the striped arm to one side.

He stayed quiet for a moment. "It was taken by a ghost," Ezio said, handing it back.

"Wait, really?" Morgyn asked, looking at it. "How can you tell?"

"It was a very powerful ghost, too," Ezio said. "The residue is still left behind on it, but I think it also kind of imprinted some of its signature on it."

"It's not a new one?" Morgyn asked. "There are a _lot_ of ghosts in this apartment anymore."

"I'm sure it's not a new one," Ezio said. "The signature's too old."

Morgyn settled back down on the floor, looking at the picture again. "It feels important."

Ezio glanced at the blond, and patted Morgyn's shoulder. It probably _was_ important, but Ezio wouldn't be telling Morgyn that. Even if they were trying to be more honest with each other, Ezio still believed there were things that Morgyn didn't need to know. That was one of them. He knew a little more about that photo than Morgyn did. It was best not to even go there, especially since he knew more than Morgyn did, but not _everything_.

"You'll remember when the time is right," Ezio said.

"I don't know if this is something I'm going to _remember_ ," Morgyn said. "I'm not sure I was even _there_ for this one."

No. Morgyn was too busy getting butt-whooped by one of Aine's other students. Ezio vaguely remembered that day. "Well, maybe it'll just be a fun mystery for the rest of your life, I don't know," he said. "Or maybe someday you'll be able to ask Aine."

Morgyn snorted, tossing the photo back into the journal the blond was keeping it in now. "I don't know if I want to ever talk to Aine again," Morgyn said.

"I don't know," Ezio said, "maybe telling her where to shove it would make you feel a little better about everything. Asking her why she treated you the way she did?"

Morgyn sighed. "I don't even know if I want to know the answers to that."

"That's pretty valid too," Ezio said. "Well, whatever you decide on, I'll stand behind you, you know that."

The blond smiled, turning around and taking Ezio's hand. "Thank you," Morgyn said. "You know, it's nice that we're being more honest with each other. I hope we can stay that way, too."

Ezio glanced down at the floor.

"… what?" Morgyn asked.

Well, no time like the present. "Just, promise me you won't flip out," Ezio said. "There's something else I haven't been totally honest with you about."

"Okay," Morgyn said. "I'll try not to flip out."

Ezio tilted his head. That was _probably_ the best he was going to get. "Some few weeks ago, I've lost track how many by now, a lot has been happening, I went to magic realm to see if L and Simeon had any idea what was going on with you," he said. "I couldn't find L, but Simeon was acting a little weird, saying things and then forgetting what he'd just said, and Morgen had no idea who I was."

Morgyn's eyebrows furrowed. "Morgen should always know who you are," the blond said.

"I know," Ezio said. "And then Emilia came up and asked if I'd used the portal from Glimmerbrook. Because it was down. I don't know what did it, but something shut the portals down, and Glimmerstones don't work anymore. Morgen said it best. Nothing goes in, nothing goes out."

Morgyn frowned. "Wait, you're saying-"

"I haven't been able to get back into magic realm since then," Ezio said. "Emilia said the Charms don't even notice the portal doesn't work, they go through it, come back out, think they've gone to magic realm and come back. Simeon's cell phone isn't accepting texts or calls anymore either."

Morgyn went quiet, thinking for a moment, and then the blond's jaw set, Morgyn stood up, and started casting homewardial.

"Wait no!" Ezio squealed, scrambling to his feet, taking Morgyn's hands in his, pulling both behind Morgyn, and wrapping his arms around the blond.

"Ezio let go!" Morgyn protested.

"I will not!" Ezio said. "You're not going! That spell may not even work but you're not finding out!"

"Ezio, I am a sage," Morgyn answered, almost icily. "And you cannot stop me from being a sage."

"I don't _want_ to stop you from being _anything_ ," Ezio answered, "I'm just _trying to keep you alive_! I have very little idea of what even happened back there, I have no idea what you'd be teleporting into, and _I_ _can't lose you_!"

Morgyn released a sigh. Ezio dropped his head onto the blond's shoulder.

"It could be just fine," Morgyn said. "It's not like I can't take care of myself."

"Do you remember what I said?" Ezio asked. "About how you're not really careful? I know you. I'd do the same fucking thing, too. I think we should deal with this one a bit more rationally than we're known for. This is bigger than me, Morgyn, it's bigger than you, too."

"What do we know, then?" Morgyn asked.

Ezio let Morgyn go, backing away. Morgyn rubbed around the blond's wrists.

"You have a hell of a grip," Morgyn said.

Yeah, Ezio bet he did. "That cold you got a bit back," Ezio said, "was not a cold. Keisha says that the sages are tied to the All."

"Yes," Morgyn said. "I remember saying that too."

"I figured out that something launched an attack on the barrier around magic realm," Ezio said. "I think it was that purple-eyed vampire. When she did that, the All reacted, put all of magic realm on lockdown, and started affecting you as a, maybe some sort of distress signal."

"So theoretically, I can still get into it?" Morgyn asked.

Ezio frowned. "Theoretically," he answered. "The All would _probably_ want you in magic realm with L and Simeon right now. But I also don't think magic realm's a good place to be. At least out here, you have a higher chance of being able to figure out what's going on and fix it."

Morgyn released a sigh. "Why did the cold stop?" the blond asked. "Did Sarnai?"

Ezio kind of fidgeted a little. "No," he said. "I kind of interfered with something I didn't realise I shouldn't have, and now _I'm_ bonded to the All, through you."

Morgyn stared at him. Ezio would've stared at himself, too, in this situation. Then, Morgyn loosed a 'pfft' noise. "You're such a disaster," the blond said.

"Takes a disaster to know a disaster," Ezio shot back.

* * *

It was still dark out. Ezio had bolted upright over there across the room, but Morgyn was already awake when he did. Something felt very wrong, though, even focusing on it, Morgyn couldn't say for sure what it was. Ezio was sensing around. Morgyn sat up in bed, sensing around, too.

"You sense that?" Ezio asked.

"Yeah," Morgyn answered.

"It feels like an angry spirit," Ezio answered, his eyes narrowing.

"I was thinking an angry _vampire_ ," Morgyn replied.

Ezio glanced over at Morgyn. Morgyn glanced over at Ezio. They both stood up at the same time, and then took each other's hands. Morgyn pooled the magic together, and transportalated them outside. Ezio's heart didn't like using that spell, so Morgyn would do it instead. If they were right and this was their vampire friend, then Ezio was going to need all of the strength he could muster.

The two of them wandered around Uptown a little, sensing around for whatever was there. And then Morgyn turned around and almost ran smack into her, her violet eyes glowing just slightly, very close to the blond. Morgyn squeaked, jerking backwards away from her. Sarnai smirked, and fired a psychic bolt. Morgyn blasted fire at the ground, and shot around the side of her.

It didn't take long before ice started to mingle with the fire. Neither one let up too much, having learnt from the last few times they'd faced off with her to go at her so hard she didn't have any notable ability to get her footing and attack back. Morgyn kept up the firepower, and Ezio hung back somewhat, acting as support and shielding Morgyn from the few instances she managed to return fire. On occasion, Sarnai managed to throw one into the other, or toss one across Uptown, so it wasn't to say they were doing _fantastically_ , but notably better than they had been before.

Morgyn took the front this time mostly because Ezio was still recovering somewhat from his fights with her before. Never mind that Ezio's heart was a little delicate at the moment. It'd been skipping beats off and on here and there, and Morgyn didn't want to lose him to this mess any more than Ezio wanted to lose Morgyn to it. Here and there, Morgyn managed to catch something on fire, and Sarnai would screech, and vanish in a series of bursts of black mist, until the flame went out. Morgyn _was_ also moving faster than the blond had been before; aiming streams of fire in certain directions managed to help boost Morgyn's velocity, and it was working very well for evasive maneouvres. Morgyn should've thought of it before.

A long, sweeping arc of ice spread across one side of Uptown, chasing Sarnai the whole way. As it burst into spikes suddenly, Sarnai jumped up along the spikes and then flipped back off of them. Morgyn shot a stream of flame at her, another, another, but she kept flipping out of the way. She had a lot of stamina, Morgyn had to give her that. It was as frustrating as it was kind of fun. They hadn't had a challenge like this one in a long time.

Morgyn went to fire another streak of flame, but she flipped upward and threw a shadow tendril at Ezio. It hit him and threw him into one of the stone columns. Shit, then she threw one at Morgyn, and Morgyn also hit a stone column. That was going to hurt in the morning. The blond went to scrambling up off the asphalt, but something snaked around one ankle, pulled Morgyn up and then threw the sage towards a glass window.

"Block it!" Ezio squealed.

At the last second, Morgyn shifted around midair and cast a barrier against the glass. Morgyn hit the barrier, instead, much less damaging than crashing through the glass would've been. Morgyn barely landed on the asphalt before a shadow tendril slammed into the barrier, shattering it, and then grabbed Morgyn by the neck and threw the blond into the glass anyway. Shards of broken glass rained down onto the asphalt of Uptown.

"Damn you," Ezio snarled, and then he hissed and unleashed an almost relentless barrage of icicles at her.

Morgyn winced in pain, rolling over on the shards of glass, and stood up. Then, the blond disappeared in a burst of gold light and reappeared behind Sarnai.

She was expecting it, reaching behind her and throwing a shadow tendril at the blond again. Morgyn threw a burst of fire at it, trying to destroy it before it reached the blond, but the flames passed right through it. The tendril snagged Morgyn's neck again and threw the blond at Ezio.

Both of them unleashed a loud shriek, as Morgyn crashed into Ezio and they both went skittering across Uptown.

"Shit, are you okay?" Morgyn asked, rolling off of Ezio.

Ezio smiled slightly. "I'm fine," he said.

Something that burned snaked around Morgyn's ankle, and suddenly Morgyn was flying backwards. Ezio reached out, trying to catch the blond, but their fingers just missed each other, and Morgyn crashed into another of the stone columns. Morgyn winced and hissed in pain; it felt like blood started to ooze down the blond's arm, from something, but Morgyn didn't have time to look at it.

Ezio threw ice at her, and the sky went dark. Morgyn sucked a breath in, looking up. Everything was black, and Morgyn had no idea what that meant. Morgyn stood up, walking in the direction that Ezio had just been in, only to crash into something. It was like a barrier, except, not really. It felt a little different somehow.

"WAIT NO, DON'T!" Ezio's voice screamed on the other side.

Something made a strange noise, and Morgyn looked up, finding beams of darkness up there. They almost looked… like swords. What the hell was this?

"Don't," Ezio said, quieter. Morgyn had to try harder to hear it.

"Give us what we want," Sarnai's voice said, "and we won't."

"What is it you want?" Ezio asked.

"We need someone to get through the barrier around magic realm," Sarnai answered.

 _No, Ezio don't,_ Morgyn thought. "Ezio don't!" Morgyn squealed.

"Shut up, Morgyn," Ezio said. "Fine. I can get you through it. Just let Morgyn go."

"Deal," Sarnai said. "Your life for blondie's then."

"That is not a fair trade!" Morgyn screeched.

"Shut UP Morgyn!" Ezio answered.

"We're supposed to be in this together, you idiot!" Morgyn said.

"I never once said that!" Ezio said. "I said I was in this to _keep you alive_!"

Morgyn didn't answer with words, just a frustrated shriek, before the blackness went away, and the blond was skittering across Uptown again. Morgyn managed to regain balance and stop the motion, but the moment Morgyn sat up to try and fire at Sarnai and interrupt their little trade, Sarnai grabbed Ezio's wrist and they both burst into black mist.

" _Ezio! NO!_ "


	12. The Dark Messiah

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah I’m still awake and writing because, I exposed myself to caffeine, and I think it fucked up my whole life but also Morgyn is on a roll now because Ezio is directly threatened and It Is Now On.
> 
> I love Cassandra too. Morgyn actually happens to type a lot when agitated, so I guess this works out. I’ve written almost 20k today! And tbh I’m still going!!
> 
> Idk if I need help or… like, fuel. Coffee.
> 
> Also I wanted to mention really fast that when I did the um, things, about the Bachelors being from Egypt, the Romani themselves are genetically and linguistically clearly migrated from India originally, I believe it is northeastern? North. North India somewhere. When I decided the Bachelors are Egyptian it’s more that they can only trace their line back to Egypt and the line migrated into Europe from Egypt, and they most likely have at least a little Egyptian blood.
> 
> The Vengeful One, Disturbed

Morgyn paced around the room in frantic, unending circles. The blond should really find something else to do with all of this nervous energy, but there was _so much_ of it, Morgyn was at a loss for other brilliant ideas.

Ezio had been gone for three days now. Life in Spire had changed a little bit. Drake had disappeared, and if Cassandra was to be believed, and Morgyn had no reason to _disbelieve_ her, then he had decided to go into hibernation. Well, his stress and depression was _probably_ intense enough right this second that he didn't know what _else_ to do with it all, so Morgyn supposed it was valid.

But it did leave Morgyn without at least one of the better spellcasters that the blond had. Without Ezio, at least half of Morgyn's power was kind of suddenly missing. Then again, it was debatable which of them was the stronger one, maybe it was Morgyn by sheer ability to fight without being hindered by a crippling disability. Morgyn wasn't entirely sure how this worked, and hadn't truthfully thought about it.

Ezio was the strong one, though, just in general. Morgyn was the one that was always losing it over the smallest of things, being over-dramatic and overemotional. That was one of the many privileges growing up with Ezio had afforded the blond. But now he was gone. And now it was Morgyn that had to be the strong one.

Morgyn didn't know _how_. Well, Morgyn had better figure it out, huh?

First things first. Morgyn needed to try and make contact with L and Simeon. If they were going to take this psychotic vampire down, they were more likely to be able to do it with all three of the sages together. There was a reason it was the three sages, not the one sage. Morgyn could _probably_ use L's no-nonsense attitude to keep the blond in check, anyway.

Besides, she gave the best hugs.

Secondly, training magic with the spellcasters they had that weren't so powerful, that was perhaps also a good thing. Now that Morgyn was thinking about it, if Cassandra could get her parents on their side, too, that would be a great help.

The Goth line was often the strongest of the five families in any given situation, and Cassandra would be _immensely_ powerful because she had so much blood from the families. Her parents were about as strong. Mortimer was one of the strongest offensive spellcasters Morgyn had ever had the misfortune of getting into a duel with. And Bella had blood from two of the lines and her skills in alchemy were unmatched. She might have ideas that Morgyn wouldn't.

In any case, there was also the curious situation of one Liberty Lee. If Morgyn was sensing her magic properly, she was going to be a relatively powerful offensive spellcaster, too. Depending on what Sarnai's ultimate aim was, it was entirely possible that she intended to commit Ezio straight to finding the All, and then breaking the barrier around it.

Morgyn didn't want to think about it too hard, but that was a distinct reality. And if Ezio, like Morgyn suspected, couldn't actually do it, then she'd be looking for alternative candidates. Liberty and Cassandra would, quite frankly, be at the top of the list of potentials. Cassandra would be safe as long as her binding remained in place.

Liberty, not so much. There wasn't anything Morgyn could do about that except binding her magic personally for her own protection, but then, the blond did have to admit Morgyn could use her help if she was willing to help out.

Morgyn released a sigh, stopping the incessant pacing around, and pulling the blond's phone out. As Morgyn went through the contacts list, Caleb showed up, of course, first. The blond stared at his listing for a long moment, and then tapped it and started typing a message.

 _I know you're busy_ , the blond typed out, _and if you're too busy to come that's okay, but, something went down and I really need someone. Please. Caleb please come home. I need you. I'm really freaking out._

The blond sent it, and then went back to the contact screen, calling Liberty. It only rang a few times before it picked up.

"Hey, hi- AH!" Her words got cut off by a loud _thunk_. "I'm okay!"

Morgyn glanced over at the phone. "Are you sure?" the blond asked.

"Yes!" Liberty answered. "I just, you know, crashed into the door frame, haha. Uhh, what's up?"

Morgyn released a breath. "How do you feel about coming by and starting to learn magic?"

There was silence for a moment, and then Liberty took a breath in. "Yeah, I'd like that," she said. "I'm kind of excited."

"I'll have to unbind your magic the rest of the way manually," Morgyn said. "The binding's still unravelling, but it's not quite done yet."

"Okay," Liberty answered. "Hey, are you okay?"

"What?" Morgyn asked. "I'm fine, why?"

"I don't know, you just kind of sound..." Liberty trailed off. "Sad, maybe?"

She could hear it. That was almost kind of impressive, Morgyn had thought the blond was hiding it better than that. Well, she _was_ awfully perceptive, Morgyn had learnt that a long time ago. "I'm fine," Morgyn said. If by fine one meant having a very refined freak out. "Just, personal things, don't worry so much."

"Okay," Liberty answered. "You know if you need to talk about anything, I'm here."

"I know you are," Morgyn said. And truth be told, the blond _really_ appreciated it right now, but Morgyn didn't have the time to mope and whine. Morgyn needed to get Ezio back home, and save magic realm from an errant, and ancient, vampire. Everything beyond that was second, and the blond could have a meltdown later.

"Okay," Liberty said. "I'm just making sure."

"In case I forget to tell you later," Morgyn said, "I'm really glad I met you and I appreciate you more than I know how to say in words."

Liberty was quiet for a moment. "Oh," she said, half-squeaked. "You know, for some reason I never expected you to say anything like that."

"Why?" Morgyn asked.

There was a slight _funf_ noise against the phone, like she'd shrugged into it. (She probably had.) "You know," she said. "People like you, and that."

Morgyn snorted. "People like me really appreciate people like you," Morgyn said.

There was silence on the line again. "Did you want me to come by today?" she asked.

"If you're not doing anything," Morgyn said.

"You live at Spire Apartments, right?" she asked.

"All the way at the top," Morgyn answered.

"I'll be by in an hour or so, then," Liberty replied.

"Okay," Morgyn said. "I'll see you when you get here."

"Yeah," she answered, and then her voice sounded distant. "Where is the button," she said, then the line disconnected.

* * *

Morgyn had sent Caleb several more messages and called a few times. He wasn't answering his phone, either, and Morgyn wondered what the heck it was that he was doing. Maybe it didn't really matter too much, and Morgyn was just overthinking things like the blond tended to do from time to time.

Right now, Morgyn still didn't have the leisure to be freaking out too bad about much of anything, and Caleb was just one more problem too many at present. So, instead of thinking about it too much, the blond brushed it off as Caleb having to help Lilith with the situation in Forgotten Hollow or something, and moved on from it.

Morgyn did try messaging and calling Simeon (L did not have a phone, because she didn't believe in phones, apparently). Just like Ezio had said, his phone wasn't accepting messages or calls, but his number seemed to be in service still. Simply, it was outside the range of a tower, if Morgyn had to guess.

It wasn't like Morgyn believed Ezio was _wrong_ when he'd said that. It was more that Morgyn was hoping he wasn't right _anymore_.

Ezio wasn't here to stop the blond, but Morgyn thought he was probably correct in stating that diving headlong into this without a care in the world would be a very bad idea. All the same, Morgyn didn't know of any other way of getting a hold of L and Simeon right now, except _maybe_ a familiar. Morgyn didn't have one, and hadn't seen Mayor since the night Ezio had gone.

So, Morgyn pulled out the blond's Glimmerstone, and attempted to activate it, intending to simply interrupt it if it went through. The stone shimmered slightly, gave off a faint glow and a hum, and then went silent. It wouldn't activate. Morgyn released a sigh, setting it down on the side table. The blond spent a moment staring at the picture of Morgyn and Ezio, having fallen asleep in a little pile while reading something together.

Then, Morgyn reached over, and turned it face down.

The blond went over into the centre of the room, and attempted to cast homewardial again. The energy pooled together... and then broke apart. Damn, that was almost annoying. Morgyn huffed slightly in irritation, weight shifting from one leg to the other, and then transportalated to Glimmerbrook.

The bubbling of the creek greeted the blond, then the sound of the birds and the wind. Morgyn looked around for a moment, and then turned and followed the pathway out to the portal at the top of the waterfall.

Ezio was right about that, too. The colours were gone, the symbols along the archway dark, and the stone had started to come apart and coat in algae. That wasn't what it was supposed to look like. Morgyn shuffled over to it, resting a hand against the stone, and tracing the patterning carved into the rock. What now? Morgyn hadn't gotten that far in the blond's head, being too afraid of thinking too far ahead in case the blond lost it and flipped out.

But now Morgyn was back at square one. There weren't many powerful spellcasters on this side of the magic realm-human world binary, save maybe Minerva Charm and Darrel could come in handy, but quite honestly, they were annoying to deal with and tended to do whatever they felt like rather than stick to a cohesive, pre-established plan. Morgyn would have better luck training a bunch of chimpanzees in magic use and executing some kind of ambush.

The blond frowned. As much as Morgyn hated to admit it, even in the blond's head, it seemed that, at least for now, Morgyn was alone on this one. Some part of the blond wanted to throw Drake out of his coffin and _make_ him help, because probably, if Morgyn asked him to, he'd shove the loss down and do it. But if at least one of them could find a little peace in this mess, then maybe that was just fine.

Morgyn's vision blurred, but the blond reached up with one hand and brushed the tears away. Emilia might also be willing to help, she was at least notably less annoying than Minerva and Darrel would be, but she wasn't very strong yet. Neither were Liberty or Cassandra, to be fair. Maybe, if the Goths wouldn't _directly_ help, there was a chance to get them to assist by taking on students and helping Morgyn with this. Given there were supposed to be two other sages and presently they only had access to one, it didn't seem too unreasonable. Mortimer and Bella would make decent stand-ins, and Bella, like most Bachelors, was an alchemy master, and passing that knowledge on could prove to be invaluable.

Damn it. Every part of Morgyn _screamed_ to give up, go hide under something, drink until dawn, maybe get laid, but Ezio needed the interference all the same. Morgyn just had to hope Ezio stayed alive long enough to go save. And maybe cry a little. Morgyn could probably use a good cry.

 _Nothing gets done by moping_ , L would say about now, and she'd be right. _Buck up and quit whining, idiot. You've things to do._

"Yeah, yeah," Morgyn said, barely above a whisper, and then stood up and transportalated back to San Myshuno. Whether Morgyn liked it or not, there was kind of a time limit here.

* * *

"This is going to tingle," Morgyn said.

Liberty drew a breath in, and nodded. "Okay," she said. "I trust you."

Morgyn smirked. "You shouldn't do that, you know," the blond answered, and then waved a hand, magic pooling at Morgyn's fingertips. The binding gave a slight bit of resistance, lighting up around her for a moment in the vague visage of chains, and then the links all shattered.

Liberty blinked, and then squeaked slightly as her fingertips lit up with electricity. "Is that mine?" she asked.

"Yes," Morgyn answered. "It's okay. Don't freak out or you'll lose control of it."

"No pressure!" Liberty said.

Morgyn laughed softly, and then stepped over to her, taking her hands. The electrical charge snaked around the blond's wrists.

"Wait-" Liberty said.

"No," Morgyn interrupted, "it's okay. It doesn't hurt any." Her tiny little baby sparks weren't anything to really injure _Morgyn_ , but it was sweet that she cared, at least. (But of course she did. Morgyn thought the blond knew why, too.)

Liberty watched it, for a moment, until it reached about halfway up Morgyn's arms and fizzled out. "I'm not going to do that randomly, am I?" she asked, tilting her head. "I think Travis may buy me a shed and make me live out there."

Morgyn made a displeased face. "If Travis does anything of the sort," Morgyn said, "call me. We'll have a... man to man sort of talk."

Liberty raised an eyebrow, her expression going somewhat flat, but she didn't call the blond on it. "Don't worry," she said. "I don't think he _literally_ will. Unless I interrupt a Hillock II tournament with my weird electrical spazzing again."

Morgyn snorted. "Well, that's what today's for," the blond said. "Teaching you enough control over your energy to be able to contain it and not... electrically spazz, as you put it. Now, the first thing to know about magic is how to identify and command your energy centre."

Liberty looked a bit uncertain about it through the entire thing, and Morgyn noticed a notable hesitance in everything she did (but given her default magical element _seemed_ to be electricity, it was for the best-electricity could do a _world_ of damage if it was left unchecked), but once she tried to follow along with Morgyn's instruction, she picked it up fairly quickly.

Soon enough, she was commanding a very simple energy sphere almost effortlessly, and that was among the fastest Morgyn had ever seen a new student pick that one up. The blond had a few new students take several _weeks_ to figure it out.

"Good," Morgyn said, smiling. "From this simple foundation we can start working on channelling your energy into spells on purpose. Learning how to do it on purpose is a big part of learning how to _not_ do it on accident."

"I did okay?" Liberty asked, bursting the little energy sphere she was playing with.

"You did," Morgyn answered. "It turns out you're quite a natural."

Liberty looked at the blond like Morgyn had said something treasonous. "That's a first," she said. "I've never been good at anything in my _life_."

Well, Morgyn had to disagree with that one, but the blond simply smiled. She was pretty good at making Morgyn feel better, and that was impressive enough on its own.

Morgyn had so much to teach her, and not enough time to do it in. Ezio would be nice to have about now. Morgyn pushed that thought out of mind. The blond _really_ wanted L. For some reason, Morgyn just... missed her, more than Morgyn had thought the blond would.

Liberty tilted her head, leaning back slightly. "Are you sure you're okay?" she asked.

"I'm fine," Morgyn answered, glancing away.

Liberty reached over, taking one of Morgyn's hands. Morgyn turned back around. She still smelled very strongly of rice, and for some reason, Morgyn was getting to be pretty fond of the scent.

"There's pain in your eyes," Liberty said. "I don't like it."

Morgyn smiled slightly, but it didn't reach the blond's eyes. "It's nothing for you to worry about, okay?" Morgyn said. "Ezio's just missing and for that matter, so is Caleb, and I'm having a little hard of a time dealing with both of these things at once."

Liberty frowned, her eyebrows drawing together. "Can I help?" she asked.

Why was that always the first thing she asked? Morgyn had to wonder if anyone had ever asked her the same thing, because it wasn't fair for her to always be helping everyone else with their problems while drowning in her own. It wasn't like she'd ever indicated she _had_ any problems, but everyone had a _few_ at least.

"Probably not," Morgyn said. "Are _you_ okay?"

"What?" Liberty asked, tilting her head.

"You're just always asking how _I'm_ doing," Morgyn said. "I just... want to make sure you're okay, too."

Liberty looked confused, but then she smiled, and rocked back on her heels, glancing up at the wall. "Well, I've been better," Liberty said. "But I think everyone has been at any point. My parents are bugging me about carrying on the family name, getting married and that, my little sister hates me and also doesn't at the same time, Travis and Summer are getting ridiculous with their sexual tension and I kind of want to throw them both through the window sometimes, university is turning out to be more difficult than I expected, I feel like a failure of a daughter because I'm twenty-two and I clean toilets at the space centre. You know what my cousin Jiawen was doing when he turned twenty-two? He was hacking into the police database!"

Morgyn winced, but it seemed Liberty wasn't done, because she drew in a breath and kept going.

"I've never been good at anything in my life, no one's going to want to marry me because I'm so clumsy I break more things than I keep clean and I'd probably drop a baby a couple times, I almost dropped my sister more than once, good thing my mother's got cat-like reflexes, and I'm falling in love with someone anyway despite trying really hard not to because it's a stupid bad idea, and I'm pretty sure half my family are _smugglers_! It's not like I ever believed any different anyway, but knowing about it and suspecting it are two different things, suddenly I'm a spellcaster and there's a whole other bunch of things to worry about figuring out and learning, and here you are telling me I'm _good_ at it and I want more than anything for that to be true but it can't be because I'm not good at anything and everyone's always told me that _my whole life_!"

Morgyn almost reached over and hugged her, as her voice broke, and she started crying. And Morgyn decided right then, that the blond didn't like it when Liberty cried.

"And I don't know why I'm getting so emotional, you're the one whose brother and boyfriend are missing and you have way more reasons to be crying than me and I should be helping you instead of falling apart because that's the only thing I've ever been good for-"

Morgyn reached up and pressed a finger against her lips. "Shh," the blond said. "Don't... _say_ that. Libs you're a wonderful person, you really are." And some part of the blond's heart ached a little, to know that she'd been keeping all of that pent up inside for who knew how long before Morgyn had asked. To know _that_ was how she thought of herself in her head.

She spluttered, and cried a little harder, burying her face in her hands. And Morgyn did the only thing that came to mind, reached over, and pulled her over into the blond's arms. "Shh," Morgyn said softly. "Maybe someday, if I try hard enough, you'll see you the way I do."

* * *

Liberty was making decent progress. Aside from Emilia, Morgyn thought perhaps the blond could also go speak to Grace and Tomax, though admittedly, Morgyn wasn't sure how much help they'd be. Grace had an unfortunate habit of not taking anything too seriously, and she tended to flit around between things rather than hunkering down and actually _doing_ things. Tomax didn't have so much trouble with it, but he wasn't really a team player sort of person.

Morgyn pulled the blond's phone out, turning the screen on. By now, the blond had called Caleb five times and send around ten text messages. Was that too many? Maybe Morgyn should just back off. Turned out Lilith wasn't answering _her_ phone, either, and Morgyn was a little concerned. The reality was, the blond didn't have the _time_ to be concerned.

The blond sighed, stuffing the phone back into a pocket, and going back to wearing tracks in the living room. It'd been almost a week now, five days, since Ezio had gone with Sarnai. Hmm, now that Morgyn was thinking about it, what did the blond know about a, slaying vampires, and b, Sarnai in particular?

Answer: not much on either count.

As Morgyn paced around in circles, the sound of someone clearing their throat caught the blond's attention. Morgyn stopped, turning towards the sound, and finding Cassandra standing there. Hmm. She was more alone right now than Morgyn was. Ezio and Drake _were_ her friends, if Morgyn remembered right.

Morgyn watched her for a moment, her eyes puffy and red like she'd been crying, and released a sigh. The blond wanted to _say_ something, but nothing that didn't sound hollow or patronising came to mind. Cassandra eventually shuffled over to the blond, taking Morgyn's hand and resting her head on the blond's shoulder.

Morgyn turned slightly, resting the mess of blond waves against her head, and for a long moment, they were just two people that really missed someone they loved very dearly. It felt like they stayed that way forever, before Cassandra shifted and Morgyn's head raised in response.

"Undo my magic binding," Cassandra said softly.

Morgyn's head tilted, as she backed away to look up at the blond, but there was an uncharacteristic smoulder in those dark eyes of hers, normally so passive. The blond's eyes narrowed, instead. "I don't know that it's a good idea to unbind your magic right now of all times," Morgyn said. "You've got _very_ powerful blood Cassie, it will make you a target and pretty much immediately."

Morgyn wouldn't say that she may eventually be important for those bloodlines of hers to take down the barrier around the All. Because Morgyn didn't also want to have to say the blond suspected Ezio would eventually be made to break the barrier around the All and if he failed, she was a very good second choice. The All should recognise her blood and bend to her, rather than need to be broken by her.

"I know that," Cassandra said, her tone firm and steady. It was more certainty than Morgyn had ever seen of her. "I'll have to learn things and quickly, I know that. I think I can do it, but I'll tell you what I can't do, I can't just sit here while Ezio is missing." Her voice thickened with tears, but she shoved them down.

"Morgyn he doesn't have his medication and it's been five days," she said. "His heart may not be strong enough on its own to _handle_ it, and the faster we get to him, the faster we can bring him home where he's safe and at least dying _slower_."

Ah. So she understood that much. At least the blond wouldn't have to explain that to her. Most likely, it was that knowledge that had made Drake give up so early and go into hibernation. There was almost no _point_ in trying to go after Ezio because there may not _be_ an Ezio _left_ by the time they got to him, with or _without_ breaking the All's barrier being an event along the way.

Morgyn released a sigh, raising the hand that she wasn't holding to blond waves. Truth be told, Morgyn wasn't _drunk_ enough for this. But she seemed to know what she wanted. On the other hand, the blond didn't tend to get on the wrong side of the Goths. She was _also_ a Goth and technically fell under the header of 'old spellcaster families one does well not to piss off,' oh what a moral debate.

"Morgyn, _please_ ," Cassandra said, the determination in her eyes only solidifying with each passing moment. "Please. He's your brother, and he's the light of my life. We both have reasons to want to fight this battle. Let me help."

The blond looked down at the floor. "I can't promise I can teach you everything," Morgyn said. "I'm still trying to get Liberty through her training, too, and there may be gaps in between where I have time only for one of you."

"That's fine," Cassandra said. "I'll make Drake wake up if I need him."

She thought she _could_? Well, maybe she could.

"I have no idea what it's going to do to you," Morgyn said. "I know you're a necromancer and your family line tends to turn out seers. You may have abilities and powers that I know nothing about, and neither does Drake."

"I know where Keisha is," Cassandra said.

Morgyn blinked. "And _who_ Keisha is, I hear," the blond said. "Alright, fine, okay, back up a little bit and then hold still."

* * *

It'd been a long time since she'd walked down this pathway. It almost felt like it'd been too long, but there were reasons why she'd wanted to leave the Goth manor behind, and had _jumped_ at the, perhaps a little premature offer to move in with Drake and Ezio.

Her parents had been wonderful to her all of Cassandra's life, of course. She would never fault them for the decisions that they made with the best interests and safety of her and her little brother in mind, but there were times when they felt almost insufferable and smothering. One never learnt to fly if one was never allowed to leave the nest, of course, and the stipulation that Cassandra had to move in with _someone else_ to be allowed at twenty years old to move out at all, that had felt ridiculously stifling too.

Maybe that was why she never had wanted anything before. There was no sense in wanting things, because as well-meaning as her parents were, they'd taken that away from her, the ability to want things. To explore the world around her, learn, and _make mistakes_ from time to time.

Ezio wasn't like that with her, not exactly. There was only one incident in which he'd made a decision for her without her consult, but he seemed to have merely been waiting for the ability to _explain_ it to her, not to simply make it and leave it that way. And then he'd told her the truth, and let her decide on her own.

It wasn't until that moment that Cassandra had realised just how incidentally stifling her parents had been. How little she had been allowed to grow under their ever-watchful eye (and there was something about Bella, she had _eyes_ in the back of her head or something, she always seemed to know when Cassandra and Alexander misbehaved in any way). It was like she'd been a flower, set on a sheltered windowsill, and Ezio had picked her up and brought her into the sun for the first time. And now that she had tasted sun, shadow was not enough.

Cassandra had many issues with her mother. This was only one of them. For his sake, she hoped her parents learnt something from her and didn't do the exact same thing to Alexander.

Ezio had already taught her enough of the basics of necromancy, that she'd started learning the basics of casting itself as a side effect. Cassandra was enjoying that fact, because it meant when Morgyn had unbound her magic, it didn't flood and overwhelm her. She sensed things a little differently now, but that was something she'd take up with her mother or Keisha at some point.

In Ezio's absence, Mayor Whiskers seemed to be interested in staying with her. He'd showed her where the white witch was. And the white witch knew her, and she knew the white witch, because they were one and the same.

Cassandra pushed the door open, her heels clicking audibly on the marble entryway, and then she turned to the right. Mortimer and Bella looked up from what they were doing, Mortimer reading the newspaper, Bella helping Alexander with his homework.

"Cassandra," Bella said, looking surprised. "You should've said you were coming-"

"It's fine," Cassandra said. Then, her dark eyes turned to look at Alexander. "Alex, could you go see if my skeleton dolly is still where I put it?"

Alexander looked confused at the request, glancing between Cassandra and Bella. Both had narrowed their gaze at each other, Bella in curiosity, Cassandra in determination. "Uhhh," Alexander said, "sure...?"

"I'll come help," Mortimer decided. "I think the ladies need a minute to themselves." He reached out a hand, taking Alexander's, and the two of them shuffled up the stairs.

As soon as they were out of range, Cassandra held her hand out and loosed a burst of ice. Bella jumped slightly, the frost spreading across the living room and freezing everything, smothering the fireplace, spidering up the walls. Cassandra had seen Ezio do it so many times she could see him do it in her head, and copy what he did perfectly well, down to the last minute twitch.

His magic was so beautiful to her. Just like he was.

"Well," Bella said, crossing her arms. "I see you've undone your binding."

"I had a sage do it," Cassandra said.

"There was a reason we hadn't unbound it," Bella said, lowering her head. "You're-"

"One of the five families, I have blood from three of them, I'm a gigantic target and unless you want to leave me in danger you have no choice but to teach me," Cassandra said, her tone firm and sure.

She knew what she wanted now.

"I see," Bella said. "You're blackmailing your mother, is that it?"

"I don't ever mean to hurt you mama," Cassandra said, her voice shifting to a slight plead. "Ezio is missing. I can't just do nothing, and leave it to everyone else. I'm _twenty_ now. I'm not a _child_ anymore!"

"Given this particular outburst, I'd venture to say you may not be a child anymore, but you're still somewhat close," Bella answered. And then her gaze softened, her head tilting back. "Ezio's your boyfriend, isn't he?"

"I love him," Cassandra said. "More than I've ever loved anyone that wasn't one of you guys."

Bella smiled, laughing slightly. "Oh, you think that now," she said. "But boys come and go."

"He's not just a boy," Cassandra said. "He's _mine_." He was the first one that saw _Cassandra_ , and not _Bella Goth's daughter_. That wanted to be around her because he genuinely _enjoyed_ being around her.

"Well," Bella said, turning around and pulling the ice off the floor, "he's Morgyn's brother, isn't he?"

"Yes," Cassandra answered softly. "Morgyn says a vampire kidnapped him."

Bella looked over at her. "That's interesting," she said. "The spellcasters and the vampires haven't done much messing with each other. Usually, we leave them alone, they leave us alone."

"A lot has changed in the last few weeks," Cassandra said. "Forgotten Hollow is a wreck, Vladislaus Straud has died or gone missing, we're not sure which one and at this point it doesn't matter, magic realm's blocked itself off, there's a vampire, Sarnai I think her name was, after the All or something, it's a big mess."

"Sarnai?" Bella asked. "The _All_ , oh dear. You may be in more danger than I first thought." Bella's lips flattened into a line, and then she shuffled out into the hallway, rummaging through the closet beneath the stairs. When she came back, she was holding a jewelled box, dark wood inlaid with mother of pearl and shimmering gemstones. Bella sat down on the couch, patting the seat beside her as she opened the box.

Cassandra shuffled around and sat down next to her mother. Bella reached into the box, pulling out a necklace, and handing it to her.

"This was enchanted by Indira, the furthest ancestor we can trace back, who migrated with her people out of northern India and into Egypt, and then Europe," Bella said. "After her, its protections were added onto and layered over for generations and generations, until today. Now, it's yours. And when you don't have any need of it anymore, layer your own spells onto it, and then pass it onto your children."

Cassandra gazed down at the necklace in her hands, tracing the shape of it delicately with her fingers. It was a little flashier than she usually would like to wear, but it _radiated_ power, and it was a comforting sensation. Idly, Cassandra unhooked it, and put it around her neck.

"Mortimer is the offensive spellcaster," Bella said, reaching over to help Cassandra get the necklace on. "I'm better at alchemy and indirect magic, protective sorts, barriers and things like that."

Cassandra looked over at her mother, thinking. And then she nodded. "I think I like the sound of alchemy and barriers," she said.

A good defence, after all, was far more precious than a mediocre offence, and she didn't think she was going to figure out how to handle untamed magic before things got worse.


	13. All So Wasted On Myself

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay. Alright. Next chapter. Ooooh next chapter.
> 
> But this one has been gotten done. I did get like a three hour nap but it was one of those naps that just makes you more tired, fucking annoying, but you know, so it is I guess. I need to eat again and then I will tackle 57. Um, I may actually get through 57 and 58 today.
> 
> I want to pre-emptively warn everyone that this entire block right after this one, 57-60ish, well actually maybe 57 to the end of TMA, are all going to hurt. At points they will hurt a lot. Bring chocolate and Pixie and Brutus.
> 
> Losing Ezio incidentally triggered a Cassandra character-development-growth-spurt. I was not expecting it. In hindsight I have no idea why.
> 
> Also I think postponing adding the images is going to end up making them better, because I’ll have the time to think about them properly and actually kinda do them justice??
> 
> Promises, Nero

A pinch of this, and a pinch of that, and... she _thought_ that was the right colour. Wait, what had her mother said? Cassandra frowned to herself, scooting around the cauldron she'd set up on the balcony, to have a look at the potions book Bella had given her. She felt like she was missing something here, because the cauldron's contents _looked_ okay, but seemed to be the wrong colour. Or was she misremembering?

Truth be told, Cassandra wasn't skilled enough at this potion hullabaloo to be able to pick out what was wrong with her potions right off. This was a very simple potion to be working on, should be one of the easiest ones to make, but she didn't seem to be having a whole tonne of luck.

As her mother had said, Bella was teaching her the basics of potion-brewing, what herbs, spices, and random natural bits and bobs did, how to create salves. _We are not witch, you see_ , Bella had said. _Not exactly. Bachelors, we are healers. The strength that witch needs._

Cassandra flipped through the pages, until she found the entry she was looking for. The interesting thing about the book that Bella had given her was that it was a very old book, most of it seemed to be handwritten, and then there were notes scribbled on the page margins, bits crossed out and corrected. Generations of Bachelors before her had owned this book, held this book and added knowledge to it. It was almost like having a direct link to her ancestors in a bit of paper and some binding twine.

While Cassandra scoured the pages, someone came out onto the balcony with her. The door opened and closed. Mayor loosed a quiet meow from where he was sleeping on a nearby chair, stretched out, and curled up tighter. He wasn't as talkative, now that Ezio had gone.

It'd been seven days. It was seven days too many.

She looked up, as the footsteps drew closer to her, and smiled slightly to find Liberty watching her work with a seemingly amused and befuddled expression on her face.

"That is the only thing that I never did start to understand," Liberty said, watching the cauldron's contents bubble.

Cassandra smiled slightly. "Well, given you're into science and all," Cassandra said, "alchemy and potion-craft would likely be more your _thing_ than offensive spell-craft. It's kind of like chemistry. You have to mix the right things together to get the reactions and results you want."

Liberty gave the younger woman a strained smile. "I was never very good at chemistry," she said.

Cassandra tried not to snort at her. "I see," she said.

"What are you trying to make?" Liberty asked, shuffling around so she was out of Cassandra's way.

"The potion of good fortune," Cassandra answered. "Luck in a bottle, I guess. It's my first potion, but the fact my mother's even teaching me at all is kind of amazing. My parents didn't want me to start learning magic yet. I'm not sure they would've ever changed their mind if I hadn't given them no choice."

Liberty looked bemused and sympathetic. "I'm Chinese," she said. "Our family is one part lawyer, one part doctor, and the rest are impressive things like programmers and engineers. And then there's me, and I work at the space centre. Not even with the rockets."

Cassandra winced. "That sounds awfully pressurised," she said.

"I try not to think about it," Liberty said. "I think part of my family feels like I'm a clumsy mess and need to find a husband to take care of me because otherwise I'm going to accidentally kill myself or something."

"Yeah, I get that feeling sometimes too," Cassandra said.

"Anyway, I was just on my way home, been training with Morgyn all day," Liberty said. "I haven't managed to blow myself up too much. It's almost a miracle."

"You blow yourself up a lot?" Cassandra asked, and then frowned slightly and dropped something into the cauldron. She thought she knew where she'd gone wrong now.

"Well, not extremely commonly," Liberty said, "but definitely more often than not. If there's a way to hurt myself doing something, I'll probably do it at some point."

Cassandra snorted. "That sounds really annoying," she said.

"Yeah, I just kind of got used to it," Liberty said. "I've never been terribly graceful and just kind of got accustomed to that fact. Most of the time, I can find it funny now, but there are times when I'd really rather just... not have it happen. I get frustrated with it all."

Cassandra gave her a knowing look. She could sense the unspoken 'why can't I be like everyone else', because of course that was how she'd feel about it. "Is Morgyn hard to be friends with?" Cassandra asked. Morgyn never seemed like a terribly open person to Cassandra. Admittedly, they hadn't spoken very much, because Cassie never knew what to say and couldn't really get over how somehow unnerving Morgyn was.

If she intended to stay with Ezio, maybe she should figure out how to talk to his twin.

Liberty blinked, her eyebrows raising. "No," she said. "It was almost like Morgyn made friends with me and not the other way around. Whenever we're around each other, I don't know, I kind of relax and stop trying to be something I'm not because Morgyn's never made me feel like I had to be. We can talk for _hours_. I've never been able to talk to someone so easily before."

Cassandra tilted her head. "I'm dating Ezio," she said. "And somehow, I've just never really been able to talk to Morgyn very well. I mean, we _talk_ , just, not usually about anything important." Honestly, they were only interacting as much as they were right now because Cassandra literally had no one else in Spire to talk to. Ezio was gone, Drake was hibernating, Lilith and Caleb were inexplicably missing...

And she needed someone to teach her magic, anyway. That was what sages _did_.

Liberty tilted her head. "You both love the same person," she said. "I think you could find some things in common, if you tried to."

Yes, most likely she was right. Cassandra and Morgyn had already almost managed to bond with each other over their love of Ezio. Morgyn's was probably stronger than hers, but it didn't make it any less there.

Maybe, what she needed to do, was find her voice the way she had with her mother.

"Say, Liberty," Cassandra started, "want to learn potions?" As she asked that, the cauldron's contents turned a greenish colour. She'd made her first potion, it would seem.

"Sure?" Liberty asked. "I asked Morgyn about it, but we probably won't have time."

"Well, Morgyn doesn't really have the time to teach me much offensive casting," Cassandra said. "So maybe you'd be up for a trade. You teach me whatever Morgyn taught you for the day, and I'll teach you whatever potion stuff I learnt."

Cassandra hoped to _be_ an Ember someday; it was only fitting if she learnt to fight like one.

Liberty considered it, for a moment, and then she smiled. "I think that'd work quite well," she said.

"Good," Cassandra answered. "We'll start tomorrow, then."

"Tomorrow," Liberty agreed. "See you then."

* * *

Her training was going decently well. Her mother wasn't resistant to teaching her potions and such as much anymore, and seemed to be slowly warming up to the idea of teaching in general. Morgyn had thoughts about asking Bella and Mortimer to eventually come assist in training the less-skilled spellcasters that were present on this side of the magic realm barrier, but Cassandra hadn't mentioned it to either one just yet.

They had to get used to the idea of teaching magic _at all_ , because they weren't quite ready to when Cassandra had given them no other choice. Her mother was teaching her potions, herbalism, and protective spell-craft, and her father was building a foundation for offensive magic.

With Liberty's help, Cassandra was now also _actually_ starting to learn some offensive casting in Morgyn-style, which Cassandra _assumed_ was similar to Ezio-style. The twins were a lot alike in many ways, why not that one? And for ice magic, she was copying what she knew Ezio did with it. She'd seen it so many times, even though he hadn't shown it to her before, in dreams.

She was making a lot of progress, had come a long way from where she'd started already, but it still felt like she wasn't making enough progress quickly enough. Thus, one early morning, as she was making tea and finding something to eat in the fridge (she may have to restock it soon, but then Morgyn had been living on needs potions for the last week), she set the teapot to doing its thing and headed up the stairs.

It was so quiet on the upper floor, without Ezio, Lilith, and Caleb here, and Morgyn not sleeping now. Purple smoke slipped out from under Drake's door, and Cassandra tried the knob. It was locked, of course it was. Cassandra released a sigh, and then shuffled off to the bathroom. She popped open one of the cabinets, took a bobby pin out, and headed back to Drake's door. Cassandra knelt down on the floor, wiggled the pin into the keyhole, and rummaged around in it.

She'd figured out how to pick locks because she had a habit of locking herself out of her own room. It was _ridiculous_. Ah, there, the tell-tale click of it unlocking. Cassandra stood up, slipped the pin into her hair, just to hold it, and popped the door open, closing it behind her.

Cassandra marched over to the coffin, and unceremoniously pulled the lid up. The glow of Drake's eyes was stronger than she was used to seeing it when he looked up at her. If she was anyone but a Goth, that might've been a little freaky.

"Go away," Drake said, sounding melancholy and depressed.

Cassandra rolled her eyes. "I think not," she said. "Quit moping and come out here."

"I have little interest in doing that," Drake answered. "Why should I? What do you want?"

"Ezio's going to _stay_ gone if we don't find him," Cassandra said. "It's also been over a week and I don't think Morgyn's slept or eaten in that time frame, and I'm trying to learn magic. Giving up only proves that if you do nothing, just as much changes."

Drake released a sigh, raising his head and then dropping it back down into the coffin.

"Drake he doesn't have his medication," Cassandra said quietly.

"I know he doesn't," Drake answered. "And he is my sire. I can _feel_ him slipping away, and I don't think I can stand it if I end up feeling him die."

Cassandra looked saddened, reaching down and taking one of his hands in hers. She and Drake didn't really _love_ each other, not like they both loved Ezio, but there was a kind of love there all the same.

Drake didn't say anything at first, and then picked himself up, and climbed out of the coffin. Cassandra let the lid go. Surprisingly, it didn't slam shut.

"What's your plan, then?" Drake asked.

Well, see, she hadn't quite thought that far ahead... "I'm learning potions from my mother," she said. "Morgyn's teaching Liberty how to use offensive magic, and I'm doing a trade with her where I teach her potions and she teaches me whatever Morgyn taught her. But I can learn faster than this. And I can't seem to get Morgyn to eat anything. Caleb would be better at it than either of us, but maybe you can do it. Morgyn knows you better." Caleb still hadn't come home, so who knew where the hell he even was.

Neither had Lilith come home, though, so it suggested something had gone _seriously_ wrong in Forgotten Hollow. But it was a wonder if they had the time to spare for checking on the situation in the Hollow given they were racing against time to bring Ezio home before he died and stop Sarnai before she got to the All, whatever that was.

No one had told her. She didn't really ask.

"I'm not as good at offensive magic as Ezio and Morgyn are," Drake said. "But I can at least teach you the semantics. I've also got decent understanding of the other two branches, I'm decent at potions, barriers are my thing. I can also arm you against a vampire."

"That reminds me," Cassandra said, "I know vampires can learn to go out in the sunlight, but is it possible that they're never really _immune_ to sunlight so much as so resistant to it that the short time a day lasts no longer is enough to kill?"

Drake made a face. "Well, you may have to ask Morgyn that," he said. "But I'd imagine it's _possible_. The science behind it isn't entirely understood, but neither is the science behind vampires in general. Truthfully, we know very little about them and how they work, save for vampires seem to be powered by blood magic."

Cassandra supposed that was something for her to play with at a later time, then. "Thanks," she said.

"What are you thinking?" Drake asked.

"If it's possible to take down an ancient vampire in the one way they won't be expecting," Cassandra answered, a slight smile crossing her face, and then she turned around and headed back downstairs. There was work to be done.

* * *

"Now," Drake said, backing away. The gold shimmer of light was still there, even though Cassandra was _quite_ sure it should've fallen a long time ago. "I want you to try and take it down on purpose."

Cassandra groaned. She wasn't terribly good at barriers. Or untamed magic, as they'd found incidentally. Somehow she managed to use ice just fine, but that was probably only because she was copying Ezio in her head.

She'd never told Ezio as much, but she knew him long before they'd ever met. When she was young, she used to dream of him. It was _quite_ the experience when she saw him on the street one day. It'd taken her a minute or two to figure out if she was awake or not.

In some of those dreams he was in, his own ice destroyed him. Cassandra had no idea what that meant, only that it probably wasn't a good sign. Other times, she'd lose him in darkness. They always felt so real, it was hard to believe they weren't.

Cassandra released a sigh, her lips pursing together, and then tweaked the energy slightly. The barrier shimmered and wavered, and then shattered. Cassandra winced.

"That was not what I had in mind," Drake said, "but you did take it down."

Cassandra sighed. "Yeah, that wasn't what I meant to do either," she said, one hand resting on her hip. "Barriers are harder than I thought they'd be."

"There's a trick to them," Drake said, smiling slightly. "Once you figure out that trick, it's very easy, but unfortunately, as most things go, the trick isn't easily teachable. It's a thing that you just _sense_. Or you don't. Either one."

Cassandra snorted.

"Well, there are two other branches of magic besides untamed," Drake said. "We also have mischief and practical. They do what they sound like they do."

"Mischief is all illusions and mind games, and practical is cleaning and fetching slippers, right?" Cassandra asked.

"Yep, basically," Drake replied. "I'm not sure if you'll be any good at them, either. It's possible to not be very good at spellcasting. Believe it or not, your mother's not very good at it herself. Personally, I think she underestimates herself, puts too much _oomph_ into it, and then can't direct the _oomph_ and loses control of it. But I wouldn't really know."

Cassandra snorted. "I could also see her trying to control it too strictly," she said. "Sometimes mother likes things the way she likes them, down to the last minute detail."

"Insufferable, is it?" Drake asked.

"Ridiculously," Cassandra said.

"Well, let's try a spell from both then, and we'll see if maybe you're just better suited to a different branch," Drake said. "Though you're pretty good at ice."

Cassandra smiled. "I was just doing what Ezio does," she said.

"And you copied him _very_ well," Drake answered.

Yeah, she supposed Drake had seen Ezio's magic enough times to know when she was copying him very well.

Drake showed her a simple low-level mischief spell, apparently it simply caused sadness in another person. Cassandra found it amusing that the one with chronic depression was learning how to cause sadness in others on purpose. She didn't comment on this.

She watched him, and then took a breath in, and tried to do exactly what he'd just done. Whatever he saw in the burst of golden sparkles that resulted, he seemed to be pleased with.

"You're rather good at that one," Drake said. "Hmm. That's interesting."

"Is it?" Cassandra asked.

"Ezio is an untamed master," Drake said. "You seem like you have decent potential to become a mischief master someday. And I'm best at practical magic."

Cassandra blinked, and then giggled. "We're almost a sage set on our own," she said.

"Just about," Drake replied.

"Domestic vampire is domestic," Cassandra said, smiling.

"Only with Ezio," Drake answered.

"Nope," Cassandra replied, "everyone, really. It's sweet, and it suits you pretty well." He always seemed to her like he was most concerned with maintaining a home, even if he may not do it in conventional ways. But then, there was little conventional about anyone in Spire anyway, and the Embers were most of the reason why.

"Strange you don't seem to think it's a bad thing," Drake said.

"Why would I?" Cassandra asked. "Hey, it's not like _I_ can cook." She could if she tried, mind. But most of the time, she had no interest in trying. Especially since everyone else cooked a thousand times better. Bella was worse at it than she was. That was the only reason Cassandra had learnt cooking at all.

"I don't know," Drake said, "I hear your peanut butter jelly sandwiches are five star."

"Morgyn thinks anything that's full of peanut butter is five star," Cassandra said, raising an eyebrow.

Drake snorted.

"Speaking of," Cassandra said, "knowing Morgyn, he'll go straight to trying to do the straight-forward thing, and go right for the throat." That is, make all the wrong choices and dive into things headlong, probably screaming geronimo because this was Morgyn, and what the fuck was caution? Morgyn didn't know her.

Drake frowned. "Unfortunately, I'd have to agree," he said.

Cassandra drew a breath in. "I think maybe we should come up with plan B," she said. "And C. And maybe D for good measure. I have an idea for something, but I don't know if I can pull it off."

"I'd be willing to try and help if I can," Drake said.

Cassandra smiled. Good. That just happened to be what she wanted to hear.

* * *

She and Drake had fiddled with the potion she was trying to make. Drake wasn't entirely sure it was _possible_ to do what she wanted, but she was learning enough about herbs and various minerals and other natural matter, maybe eventually she'd stumble into genius.

The reality was, as much as Cassandra's first instinct was to question whether she was capable of doing this or not, the fact was she didn't have the time or the leisure. Every day that went by, if Drake was to be believed, and Cassandra had no reason to question what he said, Ezio grew a little weaker.

His heart, it'd seem, wasn't holding up quite so well as they were hoping it would without his medications. But there _was_ a reason he was on those every day, too, and so it was as unsurprising as it was frustrating.

Cassandra's pen, a beautiful fountain pen with a feather attached to it, a ring of rhinestones around the base of the nib, waved slightly in the air as she wrote along in her journal. It was easier to keep track of her thoughts and what she was learning to write in a journal, and the practise was turning out to be rather useful. Through writing them down, she could examine experiences and events a little more analytically, and think up new questions to ask and experiments to try.

She paused in the sentence she was writing, thought for a moment, and then went back to writing it. Then, she felt something that she'd eventually identified as a spirit being in close proximity to her. The spirits that used to inhabit Spire while Ezio was still here, they'd mostly moved on by now.

It was interesting to sense one, then. Cassandra set her pen into its holder, and then turned around. She was as clear as day, in colour, her hair in a strange ombre of colours, sparkles in the strands, dark eyes, deep toned skin. Her face had laugh lines etched into the skin, lines that said she'd lived and laughed and loved.

It took some time to recognise her, as Cassandra had never seen her so clearly before. Makana.

She seemed to notice it, when Cassandra pieced it together, and figured out who she was. The woman gazed down at her, and then she smiled, but there wasn't exactly warmth in the expression. It was almost saddened.

"Is he okay?" Cassandra asked. She was almost afraid of Makana's answer, but if Makana was going to be here, Cassandra was going to take the opportunity to ask. All Drake had was whatever he could parse out from what he felt. Presumably, Makana could _see_ him.

"He is alive, at least," Makana answered. "But his heart is weaker on its own than I was afraid of."

The implication that she didn't think he was going to make it very long was very clear in her tone. Cassandra tried to ignore it.

"How long do you think he can make it?" Cassandra asked. If they had a time frame of some kind, maybe it would be a little bit easier to figure out what to do and when to do it. Or maybe she just wanted to know because she wanted to know what the chances were of them winning this one.

She shouldn't think like that.

"I don't really think we should get our hopes up with a particular time frame, Cassandra," Makana said. "He still draws breath, for now."

Cassandra's eyes narrowed in sadness, her gaze falling to the floor. And the more she thought about it, the more sure she was that she couldn't deal with losing him. He meant more to her than she'd expected him to, wormed his way into her heart maybe a long time before.

He'd given her wings, and then he'd set her free. And for all that he had, she couldn't imagine her life without him somewhere in it, not anymore. She wasn't ready to lose him.

"I will set him free," she said, her voice steady, eyes hardening in determination. She looked up at Makana. "I will do it." Somehow, some way. She was going to do it.

Makana smiled softly, and settled down on the bed behind her. The mattress depressed. "I know that you believe you will, Cassandra," she said. "Half of doing things, certainly, is believing that you can do them. But there are times in life when we may try our best, and things... just _don't_ work out the way that we want them to."

Cassandra's gaze narrowed, her lips flattening into a line. No. Makana didn't quite understand what she'd said. Cassandra didn't say anything right away, turning back to her journal, and closing the book. She slid it across her desk, then stood up, and turned back to Makana.

"I don't think you understood," she said. "I _will_ set him free. I _will_ bring him home. Don't you see? I don't have another choice. There is no other option. If it's either bring him home, or lose him forever, then I'm bringing him home."

Makana's expression remained unreadable for several moments. Cassandra was almost nervous, talking to Ezio's spirit guide that way, who was, most likely, many times her senior, older and far wiser. Maybe she sounded like an impetuous child to everyone she said anything to, whining about not getting her way.

That wasn't quite right. It was just that, Ezio made her feel some kind of way. Like maybe she mattered somehow, even if she only mattered to him. Like she could make some kind of a difference in things. _Be_ more than Bella Goth's daughter.

Now that she had tasted sunlight, shadow was not enough.

Makana stood up. And strangely, she didn't chastise the young woman, but instead simply smiled, turned, and walked away. She vanished before she reached the door.

And Cassandra could only really hope that she was _right_ , and she did bring him home. Because if she tried this hard for something, only to fail in the end, maybe she'd never try for anything ever again.

* * *

If he was being honest, Ezio was tired. The kind of tired that seeped into your bones, the kind that didn't go away with mere sleep. He drifted in and out of it, at least as well as he could when his arms were numb half the time.

This reminded him strangely of that one time back at France, that Jean had decided to tie him to the bed frame. Now that he was older, and that was a very long time ago, Ezio couldn't even remember why. Maybe he hadn't whined the right way. But he did distinctly remember one of his arms going numb a lot because of the particular way he'd had to do anything.

Ezio had lost track of how long he'd been here. He'd got the damned vampire into magic realm alright. The All seemed to have reacted in defence of everyone that was here, and encased them all in crystal. Why it wouldn't be merciful and just skewer him with one of those nice crystals, that one Ezio didn't know. Maybe he was supposed to be able to do something.

Well _currently_ , he could barely see straight, his thought processes were a little bit jumbled, his chest ached off and on and he was having notable trouble breathing. At this point, he couldn't even hold himself _up_ anymore, and his arms were going numb so much because he had to let the ropes around his wrists hold him up instead.

Turned out, that was kind of painful, incidentally. Who would've figured that? Not him.

Once in a while, one of the few remaining spirits in magic realm would drag a mote over to him. It was probably the only thing keeping him remotely stable, the energy from the motes. From time to time, Ezio could _almost_ see the star whale, but it didn't come very close to him. It did seem very distressed, and Ezio would wonder why, but he supposed he knew very well why.

It did occasionally throw motes where he could reach them, too. In its way, it was trying to help, and Ezio could appreciate it.

"The damned thing has to be here somewhere," Sarnai's voice said.

Ezio didn't bother moving. He could at least _hear_ her just fine.

"I don't know of anyone that's ever found it," the other one said. Ezio had figured out that her name was Lakshmi, and the cat that was around here somewhere, his name was Kit, seemed to be Lakshmi's familiar. What Ezio didn't know was why these two were apparently in cahoots with each other.

Sarnai seemed not so fond of Lakshmi sometimes. And Lakshmi seemed a little wary of her right back. Girls were _confusing_.

"No one knows where it is," Lakshmi went on. "Not even the sages know. It was done that way on purpose."

Well, Ezio knew of _one_ person that had found it. But that was a long, _long_ time ago, he'd killed one of the Crowleys to do it, pissed the All off, and his entire line was banished from magic realm.

His name was Estienne Dussault, Jean's grandfather.

Fortunately, Sarnai didn't really have a Crowley around to sacrifice and summon the All with.

"Oh, someone knows," Sarnai said. "Even if the knowledge of it is only in their blood. The spellcasters have the five families, do they not? Powerful magical bloodlines that founded magic realm, and bound the All in protections."

"No one has seen one of the five families in _actual centuries_ , Sarnai," Lakshmi said, her eyebrows raising. "I can't help you find one of those."

Sarnai snorted. "No need," she said. "We've already found one. She comes and goes around the sage out there, one eye green, the other brown. We can't figure out where she goes when she isn't with the sage. Find out, Laky."

Ezio raised his head, despite the wave of dizziness that caused. One eye green... didn't Morgyn say one of Liberty's eyes was green? Wait, no, Liberty was a Li-

He should've thought about it. Instead, Ezio just reacted, activating the collection of motes he'd gathered and consumed over time. The ropes shredded from the force of it, and released him, and Ezio immediately stood up and blasted ice not at Sarnai, but at Lakshmi.

Lakshmi wasn't expecting it, loosed a yelp and slid right off the island's edge. She'd be fine. He just wanted her out of the way. Then, he twisted around and threw ice at Sarnai. She was expecting it, however, shifted out of the way, and aimed a punch at his throat. Her hand hit a barrier. Ezio aimed at her nose and fired more ice.

Fire or electricity would be more useful about now, but Ezio was afraid of using electricity lest it backfire and kill him. She fired psychic energy at him, as she loved to do, and Ezio transportalated out of the way.

And so they danced around in an almost evenly-matched circle, bursts of darkness, tendrils of shadow, streaks of psychic energy, ice, and golden light trading blows at a rapid pace. Ezio didn't think he could win this one. The energy the motes had given him was already waning, he could feel it, and his chest was starting to hurt stronger. But he hoped.

Liberty had no hope of being able to stop Sarnai. And Ezio didn't want this one to go down in the history books as that time the crazy vampire sacrificed a Li to summon the All.

He almost thought, maybe he was wrong, as they traded blows, coating the island in their magic, and maybe he _was_ going to win this. But then he made one miscalculation. Ezio was far too delicate to be making mistakes, but neither was he thinking straight, and it cost him.

Sarnai appeared to one side of him, and as he was turning towards her, she teleported to the _other_ side. His reflexes were too slow. Sarnai fired a psychic burst at point blank. A blinding pain shot through his skull, and he skittered across the cobblestone.

"Well, that was right _rude_ ," Lakshmi said, appearing back on the island and brushing her dress off. "Did he turn on you too?"

"Of course he did," Sarnai said. "He is cunning, we will give him that. But not cunning enough. He won't be doing much of anything anymore."

"You didn't _kill_ him, did you?" Lakshmi asked.

"No," Sarnai said. "Just scrambled his head a little more than it was."

Ah. That must be why he couldn't feel anything. But it was nice, not to be in pain anymore. Ezio's eyes slid closed, then, his breathing evening out. Valiant defeat.


	14. Hardly Anything There

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I waffled a little, on the song, back and forth several times. I don’t really know that I’m 100% happy with the one I ended up with, but um, here we are. It is what it is.
> 
> This chapter is… kind of tame. Explains some things, and then it suddenly goes really hard out of nowhere with very little warning, and the ass end of it is painful. I am still kind of crying over it. I feel like Caleb should’ve been here for this one, but I also feel like it would’ve destroyed him.
> 
> I love you Morgyn.
> 
> So begins the Age of Pain.
> 
> Castle of Glass, Linkin Park

There were a thousand other things still left to do. Liberty's progress, and Cassandra's for that matter, in magic were both quite good, but Morgyn needed to figure out, first of all, how to get through the magic realm barrier. The blond was aware that the easiest way of getting through it was _most likely_ to be going at it indirectly. The All wasn't very good at attacks that were just slightly to one side.

Ezio would likely know this, too, so if Morgyn was guessing correctly, it was almost a guarantee that he'd gotten Sarnai into magic realm by now. The question was what exactly the All would _do_ with that reality. The issue with the All was, on the one hand, it could kind of think for itself. On the other hand, it wasn't terribly intelligent.

Morgyn shuffled around the cauldron, keeping the fire going and stirring the contents. Today was time to make another batch of those nice needs potions, of course. Because there were still more things to do. By this point, Morgyn's brain was kind of consistently making a very loud grinding noise, and thoughts came to the blond too rapidly to entirely process or make sense of them, so Morgyn would think something, act on it, and _then_ understand why.

It was sure darn hard to make plans this way, go figure.

Somewhere amid Morgyn stirring the cauldron and happily twirling around, the blond noticed Cassandra was there. She was a little unnerving sometimes, with that whole outward placidity thing she had going on. It was no wonder Ezio had fallen for her so hard. She was almost just like him. It was unnerving, and it was also comforting.

Amazing, that was. Morgyn smiled slightly.

"Do you have a plan?" Cassandra asked.

A plan? A plan for what? Oh, for Ezio? Well that was debatable. Probably not technically but currently Morgyn wasn't really operating in technicalities or semantics, psh, who needed those? Certainly Morgyn didn't have any use for any of those things. That was for someone else to worry about and Morgyn to unfortunately forget to think about and end up getting bitten in the ass by. At least the blond was aware of that, Morgyn supposed, but then that could also just make it all the worse.

"What?" Morgyn asked. "Me? A plan? I never have any plans. Well, I have plans of a form but they're rapid-fire plans, the kind of plans that make you wonder if I'm actually planning anything at all, and chances are, probably not, but somehow I'm still alive. Why?"

Cassandra looked at the blond like Morgyn had grown an extra head. Or maybe that was the look one gave a misbehaving child. Morgyn hadn't been one of those, a misbehaving child, in quite some time now so the blond wouldn't really recall. That was hundreds of years ago, plural and everything.

"That is what I was afraid of," she said, sighing. "Well, Drake and I can-"

"Oh no," Morgyn said, head shaking. "No, you're not helping, no you are not."

"And why not?" she asked, looking more than a little annoyed. It was one of those looks women got just before they smited you, and if Morgyn was intelligent, the blond would take that back.

In most instances, Morgyn was _very_ intelligent, but in this particular one, Morgyn was sleep deprived and probably unknowingly starving to death.

"Because," Morgyn said, "it's too dangerous. And probably too dangerous for you, and also me for that matter, especially when I'm like this but that's really semantics and semantics are for properly-rested Morgyn to worry about, not high as a kite Morgyn so you're really just going to have to get over that one because I am an immovable object. I will have my hands full trying to keep _myself_ alive, I'm not being responsible for you, too. If I get you killed, your parents are going to skin me and then Ezio will resurrect me and kill me himself."

Cassandra looked oh so unamused. "Good thing I wasn't really asking for your permission to do anything, which, I will have you know, I don't need."

Morgyn started to argue with that, but then the blond found that there _was_ no argument to have there in the first place. "... damn."

"Cassandra 1, Morgyn 0," Drake said, shuffling out onto the balcony.

"Hey, you tell her," Morgyn said. "Tell her this is too dangerous for her!"

"She's been practising magic with me," Drake said. "And she's actually very good at it. You also need all the help you can get, so suck it up. When was the last time you _ate_ something?"

That was a very good question, come to think of it. Morgyn raised a finger, and went to answer, and then realised that the blond had no earthly idea. Hmm, what day was it, anyway, because now that Morgyn was thinking about it, the blond had no idea what day it was either.

"And you're taking too long to answer," Drake said, deadpan. The vampire shuffled across the space between himself and Morgyn, turning Morgyn around and gently pushing the sage to the door.

"Wait, no," Morgyn protested. "I don't have time to eat and sleep!"

"If you go at this with no sleep and starving, you're absolutely doomed to fail and that does Ezio absolutely no favours," Drake said.

Cassandra went around them, taking to finishing the potion for the practise.

"I don't want to!" Morgyn argued.

Drake looked terribly unimpressed. "Yes," he said. "We've established this. Unfortunately for you, I wasn't asking what you wanted. Sometimes, we have to do things we don't want to do."

Morgyn pouted.

Drake sighed. "Look Morgyn," Drake said quietly, as they got into the apartment and closed the balcony door, "I didn't want to say it around Cassandra, but something happened and Ezio's not even conscious anymore."

Morgyn frowned, looking up at Drake. "What do you mean?" the blond asked.

"Exactly what I said," Drake answered. "I can't see what happens, so I have no idea what it was. It felt like a strong psychic attack maybe, but I can't really be sure. Morgyn, I know this is hard for you. This is hard for us too, but Ezio needs you to be stable and able to think straight. You need to eat and get some actual sleep."

Morgyn's eyes narrowed, the sage glancing down at the floor.

"Cassandra made peanut butter and jelly," Drake said. "It's in the dining room. And when you're done, you should go rest."

The blond didn't argue anymore, simply shuffled into the dining room.

* * *

Somewhere in here was _something_ that used to belong to Aine. Or at least a picture of her (Morgyn remembered there being more than one picture of her in these photo albums, though admittedly there were very few of them). The blond had slept for far too long, in Morgyn's opinion, and was now sitting on the floor in the room shared with Ezio, flipping through photo albums and rummaging through trinkets in boxes no one had seen in decades.

This time, of course, Morgyn had more of a specific goal in mind for this particular round of rummaging. Ezio mentioned this mystery photo that Morgyn didn't remember was taken by a ghost, and Morgyn had to wonder about it. It felt very important, that feeling had never gone away. If anything, it only got stronger, and if Morgyn wasn't imagining things, Ezio recognised it.

The eventual look in his eyes, Morgyn remembered it, if barely, and in hindsight, Morgyn thought it looked like Ezio knew exactly when this photo was taken, and perhaps, whose arm this was. But then, looking at it, Morgyn couldn't help but wonder if it was Ezio.

He'd had a number of striped jackets back in the seventies and eighties. The trend had petered out in the nineties, when Ezio had started paying his inner goth the attention it deserved and begun evolving into his current form. But this begged the question of why he hadn't _said_ anything more about this one than he had at the time.

Ezio was still keeping secrets, it'd seem. Morgyn released a sigh, flipping through the album some more. Eventually, Morgyn found another photograph, tucked into the corner of one of the pages, of too-feminine Morgyn and Aine. As usual, she looked like she didn't want to be there. But they weren't touching each other, and were spaced apart a decent amount.

Morgyn frowned slightly, pulled the picture out of the album, grabbed a pair of scissors from the side table drawer, and carefully cut Aine out of it.

One thing that Morgyn had noticed, above all, in all of these pictures and memories that Aine happened to be in-there was absolutely _no_ reason why she should be in them at all. Nothing was lost, if she wasn't there to begin with. Morgyn found that rather telling.

Aine fell away from the picture, drifting slightly and landing on the floor, almost slipping under Morgyn's bed. The blond put the rest of the photo back; too-feminine Morgyn was a time the blond would much rather forget, you know like how one had a rebellious stage they'd much rather forget about. That stage of life in which they had a terrible mullet and thought it was fabulous.

But, as much as Morgyn disliked the too-long period of the blond's life when Morgyn had been too-feminine, that was still a part of Morgyn's life all the same, and taking it out and pretending it had never happened didn't seem like the right answer. Morgyn had considered it before. Maybe everyone that was transgender of some form had. Morgyn wouldn't know, the blond was only _one_ transgender. But if too-feminine Morgyn hadn't existed, or Morgyn tried to block it out, what else would be lost for the absence?

That was what Morgyn thought. Too-feminine Morgyn was staying, even as it sort of made the blond cringe a little.

Idly, once the photo sans-Aine was back where it was supposed to be, Morgyn's hand brushed over the page. There was a picture under that one, of Morgyn and L talking in the green room. The blond vaguely remembered this one. L was doing research on one of their plants, because something had gone wrong with one, and Morgyn had decided to help. (It wasn't like Morgyn had anything _else_ to do at the time, because Aine was one of those 'do as I tell you and if I didn't tell you anything, do nothing' types.)

And here, on the next page, Morgyn having fallen asleep reading a book against L's side. She looked both annoyed and bemused.

Morgyn really missed her. No sense in being upset about it, though. The blond would eventually find her again, it was just a matter of fixing this mess with the All. Morgyn had thought some time ago, shortly after waking up, if it was possible to use Ezio as a catalyst to get into magic realm. Using vampiric mist form might side-step the issues with the barrier, too...

There was too much to think about at once, and Morgyn was going to look back on this mess and wonder how the blond had even gotten through it later.

Morgyn reached over, taking the picture of Aine that had just been cut out of the album. Maybe later, Morgyn would come back, and cut her out of everything, but right now the blond just needed something that held her likeness or had once been hers. It was easier to track and summon someone when you had one or the other. Preferably both, but Morgyn was a strong enough spellcaster that one should suffice.

The blond closed the photo album, sliding it back into its place, and then took the photo and stood up. Morgyn pulled out the blond's phone. Caleb still hadn't answered. By this point, Morgyn was quite sure something had gone seriously wrong in Forgotten Hollow, because Lilith wasn't answering either, and it'd been over a week. Morgyn would wonder, but it didn't really matter.

They both had their battles to fight, and Morgyn would never be so presumptuous as to think the blond could ever take precedent over Lilith, just like Caleb would never come before Ezio.

 _Wherever you are, and whatever you're doing_ , Morgyn typed out, _I hope you're okay._

* * *

Drake was right, and on pain of being stared at and commanded to go eat, Morgyn was in the kitchen, making a bowl of cereal because it was probably a good idea to eat something else before getting busy doing anything else. The blond had _plans_ for today, and Morgyn was quite glad that it was possible to execute these plans outside of Spire. The blond had a feeling, Drake wasn't going to _like_ these plans. Doing them somewhere Drake and Cassandra were _not_ seemed like a good idea.

But neither did Morgyn think it was possible for the blond to do this alone. Morgyn was going to ask Liberty to come, even if just to _be there_.

Under normal circumstances, it'd likely be _Ezio_ that would be there with Morgyn for this. But Ezio wasn't here, and if Morgyn was thinking correctly, well, she knew why. Morgyn also wanted to know why, and anything _else_ she knew about what was going on, because Morgyn couldn't run on assumptions and guesses.

It was time Morgyn and Aine had a little chat, that was all.

Morgyn took the bowl, and headed out into the dining room. Along the way, feline mewls caught the blond's attention. Morgyn frowned, setting the bowl down on the table, and following it. Mayor was at the front door, trying to get it open.

Now that Morgyn was faced with it, the blond realised it hadn't once occurred to Morgyn how this was all affecting Mayor Whiskers. He _was_ Ezio's familiar, after all. Of course, that also meant the cat had a bond with Ezio that the rest of them didn't. The science and semantics behind familiars wasn't well understood, nor was their bond with their spellcaster understood very well, either.

Maybe Mayor would be able to find and get to Ezio. And maybe, with any luck, incidentally help Morgyn do the same thing.

Morgyn opened the door, and then reached over and pressed the ground floor button on the elevator. Mayor was intelligent enough to know how to ride an elevator. He just had some trouble getting the elevator to do the elevator thing. Once the door opened, Mayor would ride it down just fine.

Morgyn had seen the cat do it before.

"Be careful," Morgyn said, heading back into the apartment.

Mayor didn't even meow back, but somehow seemed a little insulted that Morgyn felt the need to tell him that.

"Hey, if you're anything like Ezio, and I suspect you are," Morgyn said, "you're not very careful at all." The blond's head shook, the door closing with a slight _click_ , and Morgyn went back to the dining room, settling down at the table to eat.

Morgyn pulled out the blond's phone, setting it on the table and finding Liberty's entry.

 _Are you busy today?_ Morgyn sent.

 _Debatable,_ Liberty sent back a few minutes later. _I'm out with my sister right now, but in a bit we'll be going back to the parents' place and I think I should probably leave before Charity's moodiness drives me up a wall._

Morgyn snorted. _Sorry about that,_ the blond sent back. _I was hoping you could come by soon._

 _Absolutely_ , Liberty answered. _Nice excuse to cut things short and go do something besides deal with Charity's moodiness. Maybe she'll be in a better mood in a few days and we can try this one again then._

 _What were you two doing?_ Morgyn asked.

 _Supposed to be going to see some new movie she was all excited about,_ Liberty answered, _but we get here, and she's not interested anymore. Wonder if something happened to make her change her mind._

Well, that was hard to say. Morgyn used to be a teenager once, but it was so long ago, the blond understood teenagers probably many times less than most.

 _Hey, are you okay?_ Liberty asked.

Trust her to ask that eventually. That really did seem to be just a default Liberty thing. Maybe that was how she made herself feel better, in a sense, by checking up on her friends, and making sure everyone she cared about were okay. Morgyn couldn't fault her that.

 _Yeah_ , Morgyn answered. _Better and worse, I guess. One day at a time, right? Got sleep and ate finally. I just need to do something, and I could use someone's support._

 _Good that you slept and stuff_ , Liberty said. _Doing something difficult then?_

 _Yeah_ , Morgyn said. _I should've done it a long time ago, I think. Too late for shoulda coulda woulda._ Something like that.

 _Gotcha_ , Liberty answered. _I'll definitely be there then. Give me a few hours and I'll be that way._

Morgyn smiled, sending a little heart emoji. _I still appreciate you more than words can express._

 _Stop that_ , Liberty said. _You're going to make me permanently turn the colour of a tomato at this rate._

* * *

The sky had randomly decided to open up and start unleashing torrents of rain. Somewhere down below, Morgyn could see the water rushing in torrents for the bay, flooding the streets just enough for it to be a little dangerous to try going anywhere the normal and mundane way. Good thing Morgyn could teleport. Teleporting was most definitely an advantage.

Morgyn sat in front of the large windows, huge panes of solid, uninterrupted glass. They were almost unnerving, but the view was really nice, if you were into not being able to see Alto Apartments from where you were. Morgyn just loved the rain.

And storms, because Morgyn had always been one.

The elevator dinged, and Morgyn turned over, finding Liberty in the entryway. Her hair was soaked. Morgyn smiled slightly, and then gestured that the door was open. Liberty shook the water off, wrung her hair out, and opened it.

"That storm treat you well?" Morgyn asked.

"Oh haha," Liberty said, her nose wrinkling. "It wasn't so bad. The rain kind of felt nice. It's getting warmer now."

Yeah, summer was close. And then it'd get too hot to exist. Well, for most people. Morgyn was going to greatly enjoy it.

"One thing before we do anything," Morgyn said, looking up at her as she wandered over and sat down next to the blond on the floor, "try not to do anything that's a really bad idea, okay?"

Liberty raised one eyebrow, just slightly, head turning to the side a bit. "And define 'bad idea,' exactly," she said.

Morgyn had to try not to laugh. No wonder she fit in so well. Liberty was about as much of a disaster as the rest of them were. The blond's head shook. "You know, if I could, I would almost decide you're my successor as sage." It was nearly a shame that wasn't exactly how sagehood worked. Maybe the All would agree with the blond, though. With any luck.

Liberty looked confused. "You can't?" she asked.

"No," Morgyn said. "Well, I can say, this is the person I would _like_ to follow in my footsteps, _ideally_ , but the All chooses the sages. We just kind of go along with it." Of course, Morgyn had always wondered _why_ that was. Why were things how they were?

Why was the source of all magic something people could _get to_ and _abuse_? Why was it in magic realm? Who decided the sages are things? How was the All _sentient_? Wouldn't the source of magic be like a metaphysical something-or-other instead of a literal physical thing that exists and is apparently capable of thinking for itself? _How_ did it think for itself? Presumably inanimate objects didn't just suddenly _start thinking_.

It wasn't like it really made any difference one way or another, Morgyn assumed. It was just that, these were questions that Morgyn had for a long time, questions that, even after thirty years as the sage of untamed magic, the blond still had no answer for. And at this point, it seemed that the blond would never have answers for these questions, and Morgyn was just supposed to _accept that_.

Well, one fucking problem with that; Morgyn was an Ember. And Embers were not good at doing what they were supposed to.

"What's the All, anyway?" Liberty asked. "It keeps being referenced."

Morgyn looked over at her. And the blond released a sigh. "You know Libs," the blond answered, "truth be told, I have no earthly idea."

Liberty raised an eyebrow.

"The histories of magic realm tell of how the All is the source of all magic," Morgyn said. "That the magic we can use is borne of the All, but magic is only borrowed, and when the time is right, we give it back. Magic realm was established around it, to act as a safe-haven for spell casters and magical folk, those that are different, those that are _other_ , because humans have never been so good at accepting that _others_ exist.

"The five families, of which your family is one, the strongest spell caster lineages in history, pooled their magic together to create magic realm around it, and protect the All from those that would seek to use it for their own gain. The three sages, as I've mentioned, are chosen by the All to protect magic realm, and guide the next generation of casters."

Morgyn shrugged. "But the more I think about it, the less sense that story makes."

Liberty frowned slightly. "I think it makes sense," she said, leaning back on her hands.

"Well, sure," Morgyn said. "But it only makes sense on the surface. Why is the source of magic something we even have direct access to? It seems like that would be a more abstract concept. Especially since in the magic books and things from _before_ magic realm, and there is a before magic realm, we know that the ancient casters, they never mentioned _anything like_ the all."

"So the All just kind of showed up one day?" Liberty asked.

"It seems that way," Morgyn said. "Just suddenly, at some point, right around when magic realm was established if I remember rightly, mentions of the All entered magical texts. Before that, casters connected with the natural world, the original, primal sources of magic that have existed since the beginning of time."

The blond waved a hand, and a notebook and pencil fell into Morgyn's lap. Morgyn picked both up and started to sketch symbols onto the paper.

"These primal sources of magic were formed through natural events, absent of humans," Morgyn explained as the blond worked. "Things like the power nexus in Forgotten Hollow, formed where ley lines cross one another, places where the energies of a certain magical force is strongest are scattered all over the world. In these places, magic of a certain type is easiest because of the specific convergence of natural elements. Magic was performed by tapping into one of these convergences and directing the energy in a specific way."

Morgyn set the notebook down so that Liberty could see what the blond had sketched out. The symbols of the primal, natural sources of the elements. Not the elements _themselves_ , but where they _lived_. Sky, earth, ocean, sun, moon... in these places, the element was easier to find and channel, at least, from what Morgyn had eventually managed to translate from the rocks with the runes on them and the fancy towers of stone scattered across Europe.

There was a bonus to being a literature nerd. No literature was off-limits.

Liberty frowned slightly, fingers tracing the symbols. "Magic doesn't work that way anymore," she said.

"No, it doesn't," Morgyn answered. "And now I'm beginning to wonder why."

Liberty looked up at Morgyn. "You said the All started being mentioned around when magic realm was established, right?"

Morgyn nodded.

"Maybe the All was made when magic realm was," she said. "It didn't already exist there, and magic realm wasn't really built _around_ it, so much as _with_ it. Like they're two parts of the same whole. You need one to have the other. I don't really know how that'd work, exactly, but it sounds plausible?"

Morgyn blinked. That had never once crossed the blond's mind. But then if it was man-made like magic realm was, then how was it sentient? No, maybe that was a question for future-Morgyn to worry about. One thing at a time.

"Is it... possible for humans, if you had enough powerful ones," Liberty started, sounding unsure, "to create an _artificial_ original source?"

Morgyn snorted, head shaking. "What?" Morgyn asked. "No. Don't be ridiculous, _no_ , of course not."

Of course not.

Of course.

"Anyway, I guess it doesn't really matter that much," Morgyn said, closing the notebook and setting it on the coffee table. The blond set the pencil on it.

Liberty looked like she wanted to argue, but she stayed her tongue. "I guess not," she said. "You had something you wanted to do, anyway."

"Yeah," Morgyn answered. "I'm just... nervous." And truth be told, Morgyn didn't _really_ want to deal with Aine, not now. But Morgyn wanted Ezio back more than the blond didn't want to deal with Aine.

Liberty reached over, taking the blond's hand. Morgyn looked up at her, and she smiled, softly and encouragingly.

"I won't leave your side," she said. And Morgyn believed her.

* * *

Incidentally, one of the many places in Windenburg where magic was easiest to cast was Morgyn's destination for this particular venture. Liberty trailed behind the blond, glancing around at the trees and the many bunches of stone scattered around. When Morgyn came to a stop, in the centre of one of the stone circles, Liberty wandered to one side, one hand brushing over the runes, almost worn out of the stone by now but still vaguely visible.

Ezio and Morgyn had long ago studied these stones and figured out what they said. There was a reason that Morgyn had chosen _this_ particular circle of stones.

She scooted back over to Morgyn, and Morgyn held the photo of Aine out. It suddenly lit on fire. " _Trahere Vitae_ ," Morgyn murmured. The stones' runes lit up and glowed, loosing a soft hum, and then Aine fell into the grass.

"Oh, _ow_ ," she grumbled, raising a hand to her head and sitting up. Then, she looked over at Morgyn, Liberty just slightly behind the blond.

Morgyn's expression was rather flat, all things considered, nearly unreadable.

Aine released a sigh. "Morgyn," she said. "How... _nice_ to see you again." Aine shifted, and stood up, brushing her skirt off.

"Don't pretend we're still chummy, Aine," Morgyn said, tone flat.

At the statement of her name, Liberty blinked, eyes going wide and she turned to look at the blond.

"Aren't we?" Aine asked. "You were my best student, you know."

"Oh sure," Morgyn answered. "I was your _only_ one because no one else could _stand_ you. You do also have a notable habit of being awfully disrespectful towards me, so cut the crap."

"I have not," Aine argued. "That's a very unfair accusation. You were like one of my own, still are. I wonder from time to time, how you're doing. How _are_ you doing?"

Morgyn snorted. "You got me into whoring, didn't stop me, just to survive. You had an income and could've bothered feeding me until I could do it myself, I wasn't _one of your own_ -or maybe I was because I doubt you could keep a water bear alive. You brushed off and invalidated my feelings any time I had any, you constantly called my own self-perception and internal image into question, you made me question and turn against my brother on _more_ than one occasion. You still consistently call me _she_! Have I left anything _out_?"

Aine's eyes glanced to one side. "I also ruined any chance you ever had of having friends by keeping you way too busy for no reason besides you were annoying."

Liberty drew a breath in, one hand crackling with electricity, and started to move. Morgyn held one arm out, stopping her. She didn't seem to like that, but she did stop, the sparks dying down.

"That's cute," Aine said.

"Where is Ezio," Morgyn asked, "and how do I get to him?"

Aine made a humming sound, her head tilting back. "I see absolutely no reason to tell you that," she said. "He was always more annoying than you were."

"You will tell me," Morgyn said, "or I will kill you. It's that simple. I have no reason to want you alive anyway, I'd be doing the whole world a favour to just kill you right now, so be glad I'm being kind I guess."

Aine laughed. "Oh please," she said. "You can't _kill_ me, Morgyn."

"I'm a lot stronger than I used to be," Morgyn said.

"Oh no, silly," she said, waving a hand. "Of course you are _physically capable_ of killing me, you're sage of untamed magic now, of course you are. No, I wasn't questioning _that_. But I wonder if you _can_ , knowing that I am the only hope you have of saving Ezio. I made him what he is."

For some reason, the way she said that, it made a jolt of anxiety shoot through the blond. No she wasn't, _presumably_ Ezio was in magic realm, and Morgyn could figure that out eventually, if the blond had to do so. Morgyn had simply figured Aine would have answers that were faster than trial and error.

Unless she was _lying_ , which, of course she would. Well, no. Now that Morgyn was thinking about it, she may have been rude, conceited, misgender the blond on purpose, and uh, what was it, prone to gaslighting? But she'd never really lied for the sake of lying.

One, lone virtue, the blond guessed.

"What do you mean?" Morgyn asked.

Aine smiled, her head tilting to the side. "What does it sound like I mean?" she asked. "Only I know how to save him. Not from this, oh no. This is a simple matter, and frankly I don't know why you bothered me at all, you were never really _stupid_ , you could figure this one out eventually, given time. Ahh, not that I really want you to, but that's neither here nor there."

Morgyn frowned. "Aine, what are you talking about?"

"Only I know what I did to him," Aine answered.

Morgyn only looked more confused. What she _did_ to him? What was that supposed to mean. Liberty looked over at the blond, just as confused.

"Oh come now," Aine said, shuffling off to one side. "You didn't think Ezio had simply _started dying_ , do you? Please. Of course not."

Morgyn's head snapped up, gaze staying on her. "Aine, no, don't tell me you-"

"Of course I did," Aine said. "The little whelp was the only thing standing in my way, of having complete control of you. I'd break you down and he'd undo _weeks_ of work, of _course_ I wanted him _dead_. Alas..." she turned the other way, her voice calming down some into more even tones.

"It turns out Ezio is much harder to kill than I anticipated," she went on. "Humans are quite easy to damage, you see, it wasn't anything to mess his heart up in the first place, but he kept going somehow all the same. I tried _every_ other spell I could think of, and even when it worsened, still he stayed standing. Now here we are. He's been dying for _centuries_ , and the mother fucker just won't _quit_."

What?

Morgyn could only stare at her, could only _stare_ , as her words sank in. Things she'd said, done, books she happened to have lying around at any given time, the particular set of herbs she grew on the balcony at magic realm, it all made sense suddenly. Everything clicked into place. The photo, even.

It _was_ Ezio's arm. Aine was casting magic at him. Apparently, trying to kill him.

Fury rose rapidly and uncontrolled, like a tsunami that came from nowhere. The blond's breathing went out of balance, eyebrows furrowing deeply, and then the most unearthly _scream_ Morgyn had ever heard from anyone unleashed and it came from the blond. Before Morgyn knew what thoughts were running through the blond's head, Liberty was pulling Morgyn off Aine.

"I trusted you!" Morgyn screamed. " _I loved you! How could you do that to me!_ "

There was nothing but the sound of Morgyn's rage and pain thundering in the blond's ears. She did it, she did it, _she killed Ezio_ , _it was all her fault_ , but of course it was. How could Morgyn be so blind? Because Morgyn wanted more than anything to love her, wanted her to love Morgyn back and all she did was take and take and take things away until Morgyn had nothing left.

Morgyn unleashed another scream-shriek, fighting against Liberty's grip harder than the blond had ever fought for anything. Aine scooted backwards on the grass, away from the sage. Morgyn pulled a little harder, maybe still screaming, maybe not, Morgyn couldn't hear the sound of it anymore over the roar of rage, breathing a burst of fire in Aine's direction. One more great tug, and Morgyn and Liberty both fell over into the grass.

Liberty scrambled to get a hold of Morgyn's wrists, pinning the sage's hands onto the grass. "Morgyn no!" she squealed. "You're not thinking straight, you'll only get yourself killed!"

"YOU HAD BETTER RUN!" Morgyn screamed, snarling and hissing and trying so hard to break free of Liberty's grip. "YOU HAD BETTER RUN, AND PRAY TO _WHATEVER GOD DARES LISTEN TO YOU_ THAT I NEVER FIND YOU! I WILL DESTROY YOU! I WILL _RIP YOU TO PIECES_!"

Aine stood up, watching Morgyn roll around in the grass under the girl, and turned and disappeared.

Morgyn still hadn't stopped screaming. Liberty was quite sure the blond wasn't going to be able to talk very well for a while, for all the damage this was doing to the blond's vocal cords. Morgyn's skin started to radiate heat, so much so it was painful to touch the blond, but Liberty didn't let go. Launching at Aine blindly would only mean they ended up losing both Embers, instead of perhaps neither.

Her heart hurt, and somewhere amid Morgyn's heartbroken screams, she'd started to cry, resting her cheek against the blond's hair.

And then, Morgyn loosed one more strangled shriek, and slammed a fist into the ground repeatedly. "Why, why, _why, why_ **why**..." The screaming slowly turned into something else. It took Liberty a moment, to recognise the sound of crying. She closed her eyes for a moment, as Morgyn curled up underneath her, and released the blond's wrists, her arms wrapping around Morgyn and holding on, instead.


	15. I Can't Feel a Thing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter.
> 
> Thiiiiis fucking chapter.
> 
> Look, if I’d had my way, this chapter wouldn’t have even fucking happened at all. BUT. Morgyn is a disaster, and makes very bad choices from time to time, and it Makes Sense. For the love of fuck, burn incense or something in Liberty’s honour for she is fearless, and probably the only reason this chapter didn’t turn out a hell of a lot worse than it did.
> 
> I will also say that this chapter should be the only one that is this bad. This is as dark and terrible as it goes. I think. I hope. I really hope.
> 
> I tried to vague the shit out of it, at least. I think I did rather well.
> 
> You Say, Lauren Daigle  
> This is Libergyn’s ship song.

The pain was still there.

But of course it was. It wasn't like Morgyn had really done anything to try and make it go away. The blond had no idea what to _do_ with all of these feelings, though. And when Morgyn had feelings that the blond didn't know what to do with, it was only natural that Morgyn got horribly drunk.

Morgyn had already been drinking for _hours_ by now, drunk a bottle of rum, and was working on a bottle of tequila. Because, why not? Along the way, Morgyn had built a bonfire, cut all the pictures of Aine out of every photo album the blond owned, and was happily chucking them into the fire.

Along with all the little trinkets and letters and things that belonged to her once, that Morgyn had held onto for whatever reason the blond had done so. (Because even as Morgyn hated her, Morgyn also still loved her. But the blond was coming to understand that what Morgyn had loved in Aine wasn't Aine, just who she could've been.)

Liberty hadn't gone until morning. And even then, she didn't seem terribly willing to leave Morgyn alone, either, and simply had to because she had to go to work. Morgyn had done a decent job of pretending that everything was fine. She looked like she didn't entirely believe it, and whenever she came back, the blond was probably going to hear about it, but that was just fine.

Was it possible to purposely drink oneself to death in a short time frame? Morgyn had no idea. The blond had never needed to know. And of course, now that Morgyn was aware that Ezio's heart troubles were merely and specifically because of Aine, because of _magic_ , then it was no wonder Morgyn kept making such terrible dietary choices and not sorely regretting it.

If Morgyn had just listened to Ezio in the first place, maybe he wouldn't be dying.

 _You can't run from it_ , L's voice said in the blond's head. _Things happened. And maybe they're unpleasant, but there's no going back, not now. Learn from it, and make better choices in the future._

No, Morgyn couldn't run from it. The blond snorted, slamming some more tequila, and Morgyn had drunk probably enough alcohol already to test that theory about dying from alcohol poisoning or something. There was a phenomena called sudden death that happened from time to time.

Of course, if Morgyn died, then the blond didn't know if anyone that remained would be able to bring Ezio home. And if Morgyn moved fast enough, he could even come home relatively unscathed. It'd almost been two weeks. Morgyn didn't know how long he could hold on for.

And yet, every time Morgyn tried to go back to getting things done, to working out plans, the pain leapt into the blond's throat and Morgyn near choked on it. It was hard to think around, sometimes it hurt so much it was hard to breathe.

Because in the end, after all was said and done, this was all Morgyn's fault. For not listening to Ezio. For not paying more attention to Aine. For not questioning things enough. For always being such a terrible fucking sibling.

The only things Morgyn could do right were the terrible ones.

Ugh, Morgyn loosed a groan and knocked back more tequila. And then the blond pulled out Morgyn's phone, yet again. Idly, Morgyn wondered, through the drunken haze, what the point of even trying was, because Caleb hadn't answered in the last two weeks and there was no reason to think that would suddenly change.

The anger and the pain still smouldered under Morgyn's skin, sometimes literally, as Liberty said more than once that the blond's skin temperature fluctuated wildly between normal and too hot to be in contact with. Sober Morgyn would find that very fascinating. Drunken Morgyn couldn't give less of a damn.

Morgyn downed some more tequila, finding Caleb's entry and opening the text message screen. There were so many in here, now, over the past two weeks, Morgyn had to scroll to see them all.

Of course Lilith came before Morgyn. And the blond shouldn't feel so betrayed by it, but maybe just about anything would feel like a betrayal about now.

 _Please_ , Morgyn typed out. _Caleb, I don't know what to do anymore. I feel so lost. Help me._

The fire crackled. Morgyn drank some more tequila. It was almost out. The blond would probably have to go find a bar and get more of... something. Maybe some vodka or something this time. Not that Morgyn didn't decently like tequila, it was just... vodka sounded nice or something.

The minutes went by. The fire crackled and snapped. Morgyn took a drink of tequila, and then spat some at the bonfire. It roared up, and Morgyn turned slightly away from the sudden burst of heat. Morgyn turned back to the blond's phone.

Caleb still hadn't answered. And of course he hadn't, because Caleb had other things to be doing, and Morgyn was alone.

The blond loosed a pained, strangled noise, throwing the phone across the beach around Britechester's lake. There was no point in being upset, and still the tears came all the same. Morgyn didn't bother fighting them. The blond was so fucking _tired_ of _fighting_ for everything.

It was no use. Caleb wasn't going to answer, until it was far too late and Morgyn didn't care anymore. It wasn't like the blond hadn't steadily slipped down the list of things and people Caleb thought were important over the course of the last few months.

Caleb was at least kind enough to try not to show it, but Morgyn wasn't _stupid_. It was like Caleb had been steadily falling out of love with the blond. Maybe he had been. Maybe he'd never loved Morgyn that way in the first place.

Maybe, in another universe, Morgyn didn't care. Love really was just an excuse to get hurt.

The blond finished off the last of the tequila, tossing the glass bottle after the phone, wherever it'd gone. Then, Morgyn stood up, wobbled slightly, and headed for one of the many on-campus bars. Morgyn wasn't _drunk_ enough. The blond wanted to be so fucking far gone, Morgyn forgot how to think.

* * *

This was the sixth or seventh shot of vodka. Morgyn had lost track at some point, so hey, maybe the blond was a lot further than that. It was hard to say. Morgyn didn't really care, either. The pain was still there. Clearly, the blond needed to drink some more if Morgyn was going to drown it.

Some would say, of course, that this particular method of dealing with one's pain did not work. That trying to drown it out with alcohol would, eventually, only make it all the worse. Because in the morning, the pain was still there, and your head was pounding to add to your problems.

L had said it many times before. Simeon had once or twice. Shit, _Ezio_ had said it, so had Drake. But just for now, for the here and now, making it stop even for a little bit...

Sometimes, Morgyn used to wonder if the blond had ever really loved Aine at all. Morgyn wasn't wondering anymore.

The blond downed another shot of vodka, handing the glass back. The bartender looked amused, and tilted his head. "Another one?" he asked.

Morgyn very slowly but surely nodded. Yes, another one. Another one was a _fantastic idea_!

The blond looked around. Occasionally, there was a face or two that almost looked pretty, but nobody that was in the range of 'I want to fuck you' pretty. That was Morgyn's job. The blond could probably get just about anyone Morgyn wanted in this place and end up a very happy person indeed.

The bartender set another shot of vodka down in front of Morgyn. The blond reached over, downed the entire glass, and set it down again.

"You sure you wanna be knockin that back like that?" the bartender asked.

"You sure you wanna be questionin' what I want when it means money for you?" Morgyn asked in return.

The bartender snorted. "I guess," he said, going back to cleaning the glasses.

Morgyn went back to watching the crowd. The world was pleasantly spinning, the colours all mixing together for lack of ability to see definition anymore, and Morgyn was almost quite in love with it.

As the blond looked around and surveyed the crowd, someone else came over and sat down at the bar next to Morgyn. "Hey gorgeous," he said. "You sure can hold your liquor."

Morgyn's head tilted back, a smirk across the blond's lips. "You have _no idea_..."

"What do you say you and me get out of here?" he answered softly, leaning in close. His hand raised and caressed Morgyn's shoulder.

Morgyn smirked even more, head turning down to gaze at him through the blond's eyelashes. "Maybe," Morgyn answered. "You any fun?"

"Plenty of it," he answered, voice going slightly breathy. "I can show you a good time."

Oh, they all said that, didn't they? _Morgyn_ could show _him_ a good time. Maybe. Morgyn was in that stage between being pleasantly buzzed and being fucking _trashed_ , and truth be told, the blond's game wasn't so hot when that line into fucking trashed had been crossed.

This bitch wouldn't know the difference, though, so it didn't really matter.

Morgyn stood up, purposely moving closer, exchanging butterfly kisses with him, and then turned and headed for the door. The man perked up, and followed, gesturing behind him.

Morgyn didn't see it when a second man followed. And they didn't see it when a young woman stood up and followed _them_.

* * *

When Drake had said Morgyn was in Britechester, this was not what Liberty was expecting. It'd taken her quite a bit of time to track the blond down, but she was using it as a chance to practise sensing magic signatures. It turned out Morgyn was drunk as anything, so was leaking that magic signature all over the place, enough that Liberty was having a lot less trouble sensing it than she usually did.

She was worried. Liberty had learnt enough about Morgyn by now to know that the sage was _not_ good at loss, or pain, or um, what did this count as anyway, was this like betrayal with a traumatic overtone or something? Fucked up. How about that, it was pretty fucked up. Who _did_ shit like that, oh I don't like your brother, let me just _give him a life-threatening disability_ and hope happenstance takes care of the rest.

UGH!

Her heart still hurt over it. But it wasn't her pain to have, either, and without Ezio and with Caleb still being missing, Morgyn didn't have a lot of people left to turn to and lean on. Cassandra and Drake were around, but maybe didn't really understand Morgyn's pain. She didn't know. Was it presumptuous of her to think that she could? To _want_ to understand?

She'd already come to accept that she was falling in love with Morgyn. Maybe this was just the next logical step.

When Liberty did finally find the blond, Morgyn was at the bar in one of the various establishments all over Britechester. The joy of college towns, they tended to have a _lot_ of entertainment options. Everyone knew no one partied like a college kid, bonus points if you happened to have _two_ colleges in town.

But shit happened, especially in college towns, to college students, that happened to be on the LGBT spectrum.

Liberty didn't draw attention to herself. She'd sat down at a table nearby, and watched Morgyn down probably around fifteen or sixteen shots of _something_ , end up even _more_ drunk, and then get into a conversation with some random guy. Liberty didn't _like_ that. Morgyn was way too drunk to be making decisions like getting into bed with strangers and too heartbroken to be able to handle it right now anyway.

When Morgyn left, the man followed. And then a second one followed him, and Liberty liked it even less. She stood up, immediately moving around the table and tailing the three. Unfortunately, they led her down the street a ways and she couldn't follow too closely, and then they turned somewhere, and then must've turned somewhere again, because Liberty lost track of them.

Her sense of direction being absolute _shit_ was probably not helping in this instance. Liberty stopped, because she could feel the panic rising in her chest, tingling up her spine. She wasn't going to find them by having a panic attack.

The street lamps buzzed. The bugs crashed into the glass with soft _tink_ sounds. Liberty took a breath in, held it, let it out slowly. She did that a few more times. Then, she pulled her phone out, and went looking for Morgyn's entry first.

 _Morgyn, where are you?_ she sent.

Liberty didn't expect to get an answer to that. She went back to contacts, and found Summer's.

 _I may need your help with something, I have no idea,_ she sent. _Just stay on standby I guess._

 _What? What's wrong? Where are you?_ Summer sent back.

Liberty didn't answer that one, putting her phone back into her purse, closing her eyes, and breathing. Her grandfather used to teach her breathing exercises, ways of keeping one's qi focused and aligned. Um, whatever that meant, but now she was kind of wondering if it was supposed to help with magic. Theoretically, the concept of qi was very similar to magical energy. Maybe, the two were synonymous.

As she breathed, she calmed back down, and she could sense Morgyn's magic again. And when she opened her eyes, she could _see_ it, too, a faint, wispy trail of orange-y red snaking across the concrete. Liberty took one more breath in, reached into her purse to pull out the kitchen knife she carried around (because she did not feel safe walking home alone at night from the space centre), and followed it.

It led across Gibbs Hill, and over to the outskirts of Britechester. The sinking feeling of dread became stronger as she went, but she didn't stop, or slow down. Eventually, it went underneath a particular bar's door. Liberty breathed in again, and opened the door. It was dimly lit and full of lingering cigarette (and probably drug) smoke. Liberty glanced down at the floor, finding the orange-y red trail that she was praying led to Morgyn, and followed it up the stairs.

The music from the floor below made it hard to hear anything, so Liberty just kept following the trail. She'd have to figure out how to do this trail thing on purpose and maybe teach everyone else how to replicate it. It was pretty cool. (Thanks, yeye.)

As she got apparently closer to where the trail terminated, she finally heard what sounded like muffled screaming, and being as she'd spent at least an hour listening to Morgyn scream, she'd recognise the sound. Liberty bolted for it, smacking into the door, and shoving it open. They'd trapped Morgyn between them.

Liberty saw red. Quickly, she strode over to the one behind Morgyn and aimed the knife at the base of his spine. "Let, him, _go_ ," she said.

"Shit, what the fuck-" the man protested, but he stopped at least.

"Let GO, or I'm going to paralyse you for the rest of your life, _let go_!" Liberty snarled.

The man slid out of Morgyn and backed away. The other didn't.

"GET OUT OF HIM RIGHT NOW OR I WILL FUCKING HURT YOU I SWEAR TO GOD!"

The other one slid out of Morgyn too. Morgyn dropped to the floor and scooted across the wood behind Liberty, but the second man didn't back away like the first, instead drawing his arm back and throwing a punch at her.

Liberty squeaked and ducked, her arm raising with the motion and shoving the knife into his shoulder joint.

She was never going to be able to do that on purpose.

The man howled in pain. Liberty pulled the knife out, splattering blood all over the floor. The first man spooked, and ran. The second one stumbled, hit the wall, and then ran after the first.

It was only then that Liberty realised how hard she was shaking, how her breathing was spluttering. It took more work than it should've, but she shook the knife loose of her hand and dropped it, turning around and kneeling down in front of Morgyn.

"Morgyn, hey," she said, reaching for the blond, and then becoming afraid of touching Morgyn and withdrawing, "look at me, you're okay now, where are your clothes?"

Morgyn didn't answer, curling into a ball.

Okay. Okay, that was just fine, that was fine, Liberty pulled her phone out again, sending Summer another text message, and then pulling her outer coat off. It was a fairly long coat, it should cover everything at least. Gently, Liberty set it over Morgyn's shoulders. The blond pulled it tighter.

"I need you to get up now," she said. "We need to go, somewhere safer. The hospital, maybe-"

"No," Morgyn said. "No."

Liberty reached over, her hand hovering just slightly above Morgyn's split lip. She wasn't sure if that was the only one, and the hospital could help with pressing charges, if that was something Morgyn wanted to do.

"Home," Morgyn mumbled, shifting around and falling against Liberty. "I wanna go home."

Um. Liberty was absolutely not carrying Morgyn all the way back to San Myshuno, not like this. Her house was a little bit closer but only a little. Her vision blurred suddenly, the tightness in her chest finally getting to her, but she didn't have the time to break apart right now. She had to get Morgyn somewhere safe.

Home, apparently. "Can you stand up?" she asked.

Morgyn made some kind of noise, and shifted around, sitting up, and then trying to stand. Morgyn got partway up before the blond squealed in pain and fell back down. Liberty instinctively reached out, stopping the fall before Morgyn hit the floor.

Morgyn winced, drew a breath in, shifted around in Liberty's grip, and threw up onto the floor.

Liberty just held onto the blond, brushing Morgyn's hair back, and waited. "I'll say that's a no," she said. "I'll have to pick you up. Are you okay with that?"

Morgyn didn't answer right away, breathing hard, and then nodded.

"You're not going to throw up on me the second I do, are you?" she asked.

There was another pause, as Morgyn thought about it, and then the blond's head shook.

Liberty reached into her hair, pulling a couple pins out, slipping them into Morgyn's hair to keep blond waves out of the way. And then she got her arms under Morgyn, lifted the bundle of sage up into her arms, and headed for the door.

* * *

Morgyn was heavier than Liberty had been expecting. Of course, she spent all day cleaning toilets and occasionally carting rocket parts and bits and bobs where they needed to go, but she didn't spend very long carrying a whole ass person.

The scent of alcohol was starting to make _her_ queasy, though. Finally, she trudged up the stairs to the house she shared with Travis and Summer. ... she stood on the porch, staring at the door for a long moment, and then her foot slammed into the base of the door.

"Summer!" she called. "Come open the door! Summer!"

There was a thunk, and Summer said something to Travis about moving cables, and then the door opened.

"Thank god you're- whoa," Summer said, blinking at Morgyn.

"Move, move move," Liberty said.

Summer slid to the side, holding the door, as Liberty scooted past her with Morgyn.

Travis looked over from the TV. He was playing Density Effect or something. "What the fuck Libs?" he asked. "Picking up drunks is not your style."

Liberty tried not to get annoyed. She failed a little. The electrical outlet closest to her sparked. "This is my friend Morgyn," she said. "He's having a hard time and needs a place to say for tonight."

"That's fine," Summer said, but she was looking pointedly at Travis.

Travis sighed, turning back to the television. "Yeah, that's fine."

Liberty didn't care either way. They were accepting that Morgyn was here, or they were going to be in a bad mood for a night or two. Liberty shuffled down the hallway, bumping her door open with her butt, and went in, setting Morgyn down on her bed.

By now, Morgyn had gone quiet. Liberty wasn't terribly surprised, but the blond didn't seem to mind just about anything she decided to do, so Liberty got the blond into a bath. That one was a harsh debate, but Morgyn didn't seem to want to do anything with this.

Liberty asked about it at least three more times, and Morgyn said no every time. It wasn't Liberty's decision-deciding to do it anyway, and finding Morgyn really _didn't_ want to do anything with it would only strain their relationship later.

So, instead, Liberty got Morgyn cleaned up, the sweat and other such things off, and then into a nightgown, and in bed.

She sat down beside the blond. Morgyn hadn't said anything since they'd gotten past Granite Falls. Liberty had no idea what to do now. She'd just been winging it the entire way, mostly, praying she was making the right choices.

Her hand raised, moving to brush blond hair out of Morgyn's face, still wet and sticking to pale skin, but she drew her hand away at the last second. She didn't want to violate any of Morgyn's boundaries. That'd been done quite enough already.

Morgyn reached over, and took her hand instead, though. Then, Morgyn sat up, swayed a little, and leaned over towards her.

She _just_ realised at the last second Morgyn was going for a kiss, and moved her arm to stop the movement. "No," she said softly. "Morgyn no, not right now, not after that, with you this drunk."

Morgyn didn't answer. There was something in those green eyes she couldn't quite make sense of, not yet, and she put her arm back down. Morgyn leaned over again. Her arm raised back up.

"I have more respect for you than this," she said. "We're not doing anything until you're sober." Well, they probably weren't doing anything even when Morgyn _was_ sober, because she had a hard time believing Morgyn would still want her if the blond wasn't bloody trashed.

Morgyn turned away, and then laid back down. They were both quiet, and then very softly, Morgyn said, "Don't leave me."

And that quiet, small little voice, the pain and the confusion in it, it almost broke her heart all over again. She swallowed that down. "I won't," she said. "I'm here, and I'm not going anywhere." She shifted around, kneeling down beside the bed, still holding Morgyn's hand, the other hand raising to gently pet Morgyn's hair.

She didn't know how long it was, before Morgyn's breathing evened out, and the blond's hand released hers. She gently scooted her hand out of Morgyn's, standing up and moving around the bed, and out the door. Liberty trudged out into the living room. Travis was still playing his game. Summer was watching.

Wordlessly, Liberty sat down on the couch on the other side of Summer, and broke down into tears. She never wanted to live through anything like that ever again, and she found, it hurt a little more, to know that it was someone that she cared about.

Summer shuffled over to her, wrapping her arms around her. Liberty moved and clung to her.

Maybe, somehow, it'd be better tomorrow.

* * *

When she woke up, the sunlight streaming in the windows, the birds chirping, and her back _killing_ her, there was a blanket draped over her, and Morgyn was gone.

Liberty immediately sat up, pulling the blanket off and setting it on the bed. The blond could've gone home, and maybe that would be the best outcome. It was somewhere familiar, it'd be comforting, she imagined, full of familiar sounds and scents. Being somewhere unfamiliar could be weirdly isolating, and Morgyn definitely didn't need that right now.

Still, she worried, perhaps more than she should. She didn't know what kind of a mental place Morgyn would be in this morning, if Morgyn would even remember anything, and what, if the blond did remember.

Liberty stood up, shuffled out into the kitchen. Summer was sitting at the bar, munching on grapes. Travis was playing games again.

"When did Morgyn leave?" she asked.

Summer looked up. "He didn't," she answered. "I think I heard the bathroom door close earlier, though."

Liberty released a breath she hadn't been aware she was holding. "Thanks," she said, turning around and heading down the hall. The light in the bathroom was on. Liberty stopped just outside it, taking a breath in.

Lightly, she tapped on the door. "Morgyn?" she asked softly. "Morgyn, are you okay? If you need anything, just ask me, alright?" She didn't want to accidentally leave Morgyn alone right now, in any capacity, at least not until she knew that Morgyn would be okay.

Morgyn didn't answer. But after a long moment, just as Liberty was about to turn back into her room and wait for Morgyn to come out, she could hear the sound of the blond crying. Her heart squeezed in her chest.

If she ever saw those two again, she might just kill them both. And she _would_ remember their faces.

Summer shuffled up behind her. She was quiet for a moment, and then looked over at Liberty. "Wild night?" she asked.

Liberty pulled her away from the door. "He just lost his brother," she said.

"Ooooh," Summer said, looking saddened.

"His twin brother," Liberty added.

"Oh that's worse..."

"And then his mentor betrayed him," Liberty finished.

Summer raised an eyebrow. "Okay, now this sounds like a bad video game plot," she said.

"I wish it was," Liberty said. There was even more bad video game plot to the story, but Liberty wasn't going to tell Summer or Travis that part. If she had her way, she'd even forget it existed.

She didn't think she'd ever forget the sound of Morgyn screaming.

"Hey, Travis?" she said, leaning over to kind of see him down the hall.

"Yeah?" Travis answered.

"Do you have any spare clothes Morgyn can borrow?" Liberty asked. "Just for right now, that is."

"Yeah, I think so," Travis answered.

The bathroom door opened, just slightly. Liberty and Summer turned towards it, and Morgyn stepped out, wiping away tear tracks.

Liberty blinked in surprise. The blond was not blond anymore, Morgyn's hair was a deep chestnut brown colour. It was rather gorgeous on Morgyn, if one asked Liberty, but it was probably a good thing that no one had. It'd seem Morgyn had gotten into her closet, because the sage was wearing one of her turtlenecks, and one of her skirts.

That was a very terrible match, though, Liberty thought. It didn't look _bad_ on Morgyn, just, didn't quite look _good_ , either.

Liberty frowned.

"Oh my," Summer said.

Travis came down the hall, headed to his room, but he stopped. "Oh fuck," he said. "That's hot."

Morgyn fidgeted. Liberty shot Travis an annoyed look. Summer's eyes widened.

"Okay! And we're leaving now," she said, reaching over and taking Travis by the shoulders, shoving him back down the hallway to the living room, despite his many protests along the way.

Liberty released a sigh, then turned back to Morgyn. There was a bruise under the now brown waves, she could tell. Morgyn's lip had kind of bruised too, vague marks around Morgyn's neck were just barely visible beneath the turtleneck, but that was better than she'd been afraid of.

"Welp, I can't do this," she said, shuffling into her bedroom and going through her closet. There had to be something better than that particular skirt, something that matched the turtleneck a bit better. It took several minutes of rummaging, but she finally squeaked and pulled another skirt out. This one was a little bit longer, too, and black.

She shuffled back over to Morgyn, holding the skirt out. "There, this should work better," she said.

Morgyn took the skirt, looking confused.

"What?" Liberty asked.

Morgyn gestured down at the clothes the sage was wearing, eyebrows raising, though it looked like it was painful to do that right now.

"What, did you think I had a problem with you wearing my clothes?" she asked.

Morgyn nodded.

"No, psh," Liberty answered, "it's just that matching that skirt with that shirt is kind of criminal, that's all."

Morgyn looked even more confused.

Liberty shifted her weight. "Are you comfortable?" she asked, resting a hand on her hip.

Morgyn nodded.

"Okay then," she said. "That's all I need to know. I mean, it is a little unfair, because I think you look _way_ better in my clothes than I do, but it's still-"

Liberty went silent, as Morgyn burst into tears, and stepped forward to cling to her. That was not the response that she'd been expecting, but then, Morgyn had probably faced a lot of shit over the years because of the way Morgyn presented and the clothes that the not-blond chose to wear.

Honestly, Liberty wouldn't even be surprised to find out the attack last night had been at least partially motivated by transphobia or something.

"Hey," Liberty said, gently wrapping her arms around Morgyn and hugging back, "never be afraid to be you around me, okay?"

Morgyn didn't answer, just clung a little bit tighter for a moment, before loosening grip again.

"Your hair changed colours," she said. "That's going to take some getting used to."

Morgyn snorted, letting Liberty go and backing away, then holding up a hand, loosing a slight spark of magic, and gesturing at the brown waves.

"Oooh," Liberty said. "You'll have to teach me how to dye hair with magic. I think I'd look pretty rad in cobalt blue."

Morgyn snorted again.

"I'm going to go make some green tea, with lemon and honey, okay?" Liberty said. "It'll help your throat. You can change really quick, and I'll be back."

Liberty turned away, but Morgyn reached out and took her hand. Liberty turned back around. Morgyn looked rather upset.

"It's okay," Liberty said. "I wouldn't have brought you here if I didn't trust Summer and Travis. Travis might _say_ things, but he won't do anything, he's harmless. I've known him since we were in grade school. Summer, too."

Morgyn thought about it, for a long moment, and then let her hand go, turned around, and went back into the bathroom.

And Liberty could only hope that she was enough to help Morgyn heal a little.


	16. Dreams Don't Turn to Gold

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Morgyn is saddening.
> 
> The good news is… everything is going a little better now. That is very good news.
> 
> Fun trivia, there is a difference between blond/blonde and brunet/brunette. The first is masculine, the second is feminine. So there is a reason I always use the first variant with Morgyn. Red-head doesn’t really have anything like that so I guess when Morgyn’s hair goes red, the dork gets to be a ginger.
> 
> Where Do Broken Hearts Go, Whitney Houston

Morgyn hadn't said another word since then.

The brunet had ended up staying a couple days, rather than only the one, but it worked out. Liberty was honestly afraid to leave Morgyn alone for too long, and she'd started taking her vacation days off from work to stay at home with the brunet.

Travis had made a few more comments about Morgyn's level of attractiveness, but not directly _to_ the sage, and not in Morgyn's presence. Liberty didn't know if Morgyn had heard any of those comments, but if the brunet _had_ heard them, they didn't seem to be affecting Morgyn one way or another.

As for Liberty, she'd surrendered her bed to Morgyn, and was now sleeping on the couch. She didn't mind it too much. Somewhere between that night and the present, she'd developed a slight tendency towards having nightmares, and fell off the couch in her sleep a few times already.

Morgyn had eaten a few slices of toast since coming to stay with them, but nothing more substantial than that. Liberty had decided that wasn't a good thing, and was shuffling around the kitchen making something more than just toast for Morgyn to eat.

Unsurprisingly, Morgyn mostly stayed in Liberty's room, sitting in a chair by the window, watching the birds in the garden, occasionally reading one of Liberty's massive comic book collection (though she had other books, and Morgyn _did_ also read those). Liberty kept half an eye on the various marks and injuries that littered Morgyn's skin, but they were all healing just fine without too much interference.

It was for the best. Liberty was still rather afraid of touching Morgyn too much. It wasn't like Morgyn seemed _bothered_ by it when by chance she did, but after two majorly traumatic events in rapid succession, it was also hard to say how Morgyn would take just about anything right now.

Liberty knew how to handle it when your stomach was being a delicate diva. She figured out at some point that the reason Morgyn wasn't eating most likely was because the brunet was having trouble with stress causing upset stomach. It wasn't surprising. Liberty would be _more_ surprised if it didn't cause any physical effects at all, given how much there had to be by now.

She'd decided on this specific arrangement of foods because it was the most likely selection to be both tolerable for Morgyn to eat, and also nutritiously balanced. Since the brunet hadn't really been eating anything besides toast, regaining missing nutrients would be very important for getting Morgyn's eating habits back on track, and with any luck, get the sage feeling better.

It was a very Asian breakfast experience, built on a foundation of rice and scrambled egg, but it was fairly solid, nutritiously. Liberty also made her own, just so that Morgyn didn't feel weird being the only one eating in the room. That could make some people self-conscious (it sure made _her_ self-conscious when she was younger).

She hoped this worked out, and Morgyn finally ate something. Liberty should _probably_ not let Morgyn decide the brunet wasn't eating, because it was probably somewhat threatening by now. One could live without food for a while, but not a very long time.

As Liberty started on making ginger tea, someone knocked on the door. Summer, sitting at the bar behind her, stood up and went to go get it. She pulled the door open, and loosed a soft squeak.

"Good morning, ma'am," a male voice said. "We're looking for a Liberty Lee, is she available?"

"Um, Libs?" Summer said.

Liberty set the teabags down on the counter, deciding it was best not to start the tea before whatever conversation this was going to be. She turned around, finding two police officers standing on the porch, and immediately decided that was the best idea she'd had all year. Her expression flattened, and then she shuffled around the bar, and to the door.

"Can I help you officers?" she asked.

"Would you mind stepping outside here, ma'am?" the male officer asked, stepping away from the door. "We'd like to have a word with you."

She had a feeling this had something to do with shoving a knife into that one guy's shoulder. Liberty frowned slightly, but she shuffled out onto the porch, closing the door behind her, and crossed her arms over her chest.

"What's this about?" she asked.

"We have reports that you stabbed a young man in the shoulder a few days ago," the female officer answered.

"We'd like to know where you were at eight o'clock last Friday evening?" the male officer asked.

Liberty remembered what her family always said. Never say anything to a police officer you didn't have to. Despite _really_ wanting to utterly lose her shit, Liberty did not. "I was at home," Liberty answered steadily. "Do you have any evidence of this accusation, officer?"

"The alleged victim's shoulder joint was certainly severed by a sharp object," the male officer said.

"That's unfortunate," Liberty said. That was good for her, though. It meant they hadn't found the knife. Liberty had ended up leaving it behind because she'd had her hands full with Morgyn. As soon as they left, she might like to message Drake and see if he could mist port over there long enough to find it before the police do.

"Do you have anyone to attest that you were home at that time?" the female officer asked.

"She was home after work," Summer said through the door.

"I also live here and can attest to the same thing," Travis' voice added.

The officers exchanged glances. The male one sighed. "This is a developing investigation," he said. "But you should be aware that if you're hiding something, it won't end well for you."

"Of course," Liberty said.

The female officer looked unconvinced, but she turned and headed to the patrol car.

"Thank you for your time," the male said, nodding. "Have a nice day, ma'am. We may be back some other time for more questions."

"Fine," Liberty answered.

He went down the stairs, and also got back into the patrol car. Liberty stayed where she was, watching them drive down to the end of the street, and then turn around. Liberty turned and went into the house.

"Holy shit, Liberty!" Summer exclaimed. "What the _hell_ was that about?!"

Liberty glanced towards the wall.

"What are we protecting you from?" Summer asked.

Liberty looked down the hall. Morgyn was standing outside her door, and, just barely, the sage nodded, gesturing in Summer's direction, and then disappeared back into Liberty's room.

"Morgyn got intensely drunk," Liberty said, eyes falling to the floor. "And when I caught up with him, he was. Pinned between a couple other men. And I just... _reacted_. One of them ran, but the other threw a punch at me and I shoved a knife in his shoulder joint. I guess he decided to try pressing charges."

Summer looked sad. Even Travis sobered a little.

"I was getting breakfast ready," Liberty said, turning around and going back to the kitchen, pulling her phone off the charger along the way.

* * *

Morgyn wore more layers of clothing than Liberty remembered the brunet wearing before. Certainly, it wasn't much of a surprise, given she was already accustomed to how things were before. Morgyn looked good in just about anything, and the looser clothing did wonders for hiding what curvature Morgyn's body still had.

Travis had pulled a few things out of his own closet as options for Morgyn, in case Morgyn wanted to wear something that _wasn't_ a skirt, and Morgyn seemed to like the sweaters Travis had dug up. Liberty was half paying attention, because she wanted to know what kinds of things Morgyn liked. Someday, she may have to be concerned with birthday and Winterfest shopping.

Or, maybe they'd never really speak again, after this. She didn't know.

It was only a few minutes after the police had gone that Liberty meandered into her room, with her plate and Morgyn's. Morgyn was standing at the window, hands tucked under the brunet's chin. Morgyn looked nervous, but Liberty imagined the brunet might be.

Liberty set her own plate down onto her desk, and then shuffled over to Morgyn, offering the brunet the other plate.

Morgyn took one look at it, and almost turned a little green.

"I know," Liberty said, looking a bit amused. "But you need to eat something, Morgyn. Please. You haven't eaten anything but toast since you got here, it's not good for you. These things, they're easy on your digestive system, it shouldn't aggravate your stomach any. I also brought green tea with ginger in."

Morgyn eyed the plate warily, but then reached out and took it from her, settling down on the bed with it. It took a moment, but eventually, Morgyn kind of started picking at it.

"Just a couple bites," Liberty said, sitting down at the desk, "and I won't pester anymore. Promise."

Morgyn looked up at her, a little unsure, but started managing small little bites.

"The ginger tea will help, too," Liberty said. "Ginger's good for soothing upset stomach. My grandmother used to make it for me all the time when I was a kid. I had a habit of eating too much, then running around too much."

Morgyn glanced up at her, making a face that suggested the sage found that cute.

"It was annoying," she said. "Child me was kind of a dumb ass."

Morgyn looked amused, and then looked a little greener for a moment, before the sage reached over and picked up the ginger tea, sipping at it a bit.

A sympathetic look crossed Liberty's face. Things were going to be difficult for the brunet for a while, Liberty knew that. Through no fault of Morgyn's, of course, things had just turned out this way. Liberty wished it hadn't, but there was no sense in being upset about the way the dice had landed.

"Morgyn," she said softly, and the sage looked up at her. "I have to go back to work tomorrow." She'd run out of vacation days. "Do you want to stay here, or would you rather go home?"

Panic flickered through Morgyn's eyes, for just a second, before going away. Liberty almost felt bad for having to work and considered quitting her job for a moment. But there were others that could make sure Morgyn was never alone. Morgyn had a home already, Drake and Cassandra still cared, and could easily be enough to make sure Morgyn made it past this the rest of the way.

She'd done her part, it'd seem. And now it was time to hand the reins to someone else. Though, she still wondered a good deal about Caleb.

Eventually, Morgyn curled up slightly, legs pulling up against the brunet's chest, and Morgyn shrugged.

"Okay," Liberty said. "Well, think about it for a bit and let me know. There's some time." Not a whole lot, but enough that Morgyn could think about it. "Summer and Travis both have work, too, so there'll be times when you're by yourself for a few hours, I'm sure."

But that was almost worse in some ways. Liberty didn't think _literally_ being alone would be a very good thing for Morgyn right now, but whatever the sage decided, she'd go along with unless and until it proved damaging.

"I have somewhere to go later today, too," she said. "So I'll be gone for a few hours later, okay?"

Morgyn looked up at her, and then seemed to be debating something internally. Liberty was patient, waiting for Morgyn to figure out how to express what was in the brunet's head, but eventually Morgyn's eyes squeezed shut. Morgyn's hands smacked into the brunet's face a few times, and then Morgyn gestured at Liberty's phone on the desk.

Liberty was slightly surprised by that, but reached over, picked it up, and handed it to Morgyn. Morgyn turned it on, tapping on it, and then handed it back.

Oh. Morgyn had opened a text message to the brunet's phone and used it to type out a message. Now that she was reminded of it, where _was_ Morgyn's phone, anyway?

_Do you have more books? I can be alone a few hours as long as I have something to do._

Oh, yeah, that made sense. Liberty took a breath in. "Most of my books are in my parents' basement," she said. "But, what you can do while we're eating, is you can go through the library app on my phone, and pick a few books out. You can only borrow six at a time, but it should be enough for a few hours of entertainment at least. And if you'd like to borrow more when you've finished reading those, that'd be fine."

Morgyn nodded, and something about the way the brunet looked at her made her feel that weird feeling everyone called warm and fuzzy.

"Hey," she said, "we'll get you through this. I know it seems like nothing will ever get better now, but the night is always at its darkest, just before the sun rises."

* * *

A few times in her life, Liberty had come awfully close to this place. It was shrouded in mystery and quite interesting folktales, but Liberty was starting to wonder how many of those stories were _true_ and how many the vampires had planted in the minds of some mortal, and allowed to spread like wildfire.

The good thing about humans, they certainly very much liked to talk. They also liked to scare each other and embellish things. Liberty could see where that would most certainly come in handy for supernatural creatures.

Drake had gone and found the knife for her. A quick spell, and it was like the thing had never left the kitchen. Those idiots were going to have a very hard time pinning her for stabbing one in the shoulder. She wasn't one for dragging her family into her problems, but if they really pushed her, she might have a word or a few with a couple lawyer relatives and see if she could viably ruin their lives.

And if the Chinese restaurant side of the family got involved instead, well, that wasn't any of her business.

Then, Drake had mentioned that most likely, one would find Caleb in Forgotten Hollow. However, things were a little tense here, and he didn't want her to come by herself. So, here they were, up in the mountains in front of a barrier, and Drake was trying to break it.

"Eh, unfortunately I think this is the same kind of barrier that was around Straud manor before," Drake said.

"What's that mean?" Liberty asked, glancing over at him.

"It took me several days to break that one," Drake answered. "I can do it, but it won't be anytime soon."

Liberty frowned. She didn't like the sound of that. A few times already, she'd caught Morgyn napping, or still asleep in the morning, and she could hear it. Very softly, Morgyn would sometimes cry in the brunet's sleep and if you listened very closely, you could hear Morgyn whispering Caleb's name, begging him to come home.

Maybe Liberty _would_ be enough on her own to help Morgyn through this. And maybe thinking that in any capacity had been a foolish thing to do.

As Drake fiddled with the barrier, though, he stopped, and tilted his head. "Never mind," he said. "Caleb sensed us."

Sure enough, Liberty looked back over across the Hollow, and Caleb ran up to the barrier. It was so quick it caused her to startle and jump backward slightly.

"Sorry about that," Caleb said. "What are you two doing here?"

"She wanted to come," Drake said, gesturing at Liberty. "I just didn't want her to come alone."

"Probably a good thought," Caleb answered. Then, his grey eyes turned to Liberty. "And why did you want to come?"

"You've been gone a while," Liberty answered, her eyes narrowing slightly. "I was just curious as to why." Well, there was a little more to it than that, but how he answered would determine how _she_ answered.

"Lilith was attacked by Sarnai," Caleb answered. "She's stable, but still kind of weak, so I've been helping with things here in the Hollow."

"How long ago was that?" Liberty asked.

"I don't know," Caleb answered. "Maybe it was on the ninth."

Liberty released a sigh. That was before Ezio disappeared. So he had no idea that Ezio was even missing at all, did he? "You don't know Ezio's gone then, do you?" she asked, but it was toned more like a statement. She could guess the answer.

Caleb looked surprised, eyes flicking over to Drake.

Drake looked away.

"Wait, what do you mean gone?" Caleb asked, turning back to Liberty.

"Sarnai took him," Liberty answered. "Morgyn didn't take it very well." It wasn't surprising. Ezio was a good deal of what kept Morgyn moving, and Liberty supposed when you'd lived as long as they had, each other rapidly became one of the only constants in their lives, if not literally the only one. Things changed, as quickly as they stayed the same. Particularly when you were two-hundred-seventy-something.

"Is Morgyn okay?" Caleb asked, eyebrows drawing together in concern.

"No," Liberty answered. "I'd say Morgyn is very much not okay. Ezio disappeared and Morgyn decided to ask Aine how to find him." She'd be surprised if Caleb didn't know who that was.

Even Drake turned to look at her in surprise and what looked like very real concern.

"That can't have been good," Caleb said.

"I won't tell you what Aine said," Liberty replied, "but Morgyn breathed fire all over the place and scream-cried for an hour because of it. And then got drunk as hell. And has been staying with me for the last three days and has not said a single, fucking word."

Caleb's gaze fell to the asphalt, deflating more than a little bit.

"I know your sister is important to you," Liberty said. "And I know the Hollow is important as well, and maybe you can't just _walk away_ from it. But I think maybe you should figure out how to."

Caleb shook his head. "No," he said. "I should stay here. I've made too many mistakes, and I don't know how to make any of it right. Morgyn likely won't be happy to see me anyway, I don't want to cause more stress."

"Caleb," Liberty said, "Morgyn's been crying your name in his sleep."

Caleb looked up at her, and frowned deeper.

"Morgyn needs _you_ ," she said. "And I'm not you."

* * *

Liberty was gone now. Morgyn was trying not to mind it too much, but when she wasn't around, everything started blurring and blending together even worse than they already did. Morgyn was having a lot of trouble keeping track of time, among other things.

Remembering to eat, not being a clumsy mess, feeling the sensation of needing to go to the bathroom. These were things that shouldn't be notably difficult to do, but for Morgyn, sometimes they were next to impossible.

There were cute trinkets, comic books, handheld gaming consoles, old game posters, a few game guides, collector toys, plush toys, and photographs all over Liberty's room. She seemed to be a big fan of Henry Puffer, judging by all the little magical-style trinkets, and the hand-turned wood wand hanging on the wall. If she wanted a real one, she could use those now.

She also seemed to have a soft spot for Japanese RPGs and the Voidcritter franchise. Morgyn didn't terribly care for the Voidcritters before, but after a few days of hugging a Meduso plush, they'd kind of started to grow on the brunet.

Morgyn sat in the chair by the window, head resting against the glass, green eyes watching the birds scurry around the dirt in the sunlight. They looked so happy, but the truth was probably a lot different. It was hard to say whether other creatures experienced emotions in the same way as people. Truth was, they could be nothing like happy, and merely not be distressed.

But for a moment, they looked happy enough.

Memories flit in and out of the brunet's head, like water slipping through a sieve. Very little caught and remained behind, and Morgyn had discovered that trying to remember things too hard tended towards making it even more likely that the brunet wouldn't remember them.

Nothing of any consequence was in Morgyn's head anymore. Like someone had just turned off a faucet, but the sink was still full of water and Morgyn didn't feel any emptier for it. From time to time, the thought that Morgyn should be working on bringing Ezio home crossed Morgyn's mind, and then it went again.

It was a strange thing for Morgyn to be able to simply let go of, but a lot of things the brunet shouldn't be able to just, _let go of_ , were slipping right through the sage's proverbial fingers.

As Morgyn sat there, head against the glass, book in the brunet's lap, eyes watching the birds, something in the air shifted. And, well, _normally_ when something in the air shifted that way, it would cause almost immediate panic, but instead, Morgyn's head lifted off the glass, and glanced toward the bedroom door.

Whatever it was, Travis could deal with it, Morgyn decided. Summer was at work, of course. She seemed to work a lot, but it was what it was. She often came back smelling strongly of butter and spices. If Morgyn remembered right, Liberty mentioned she worked at a restaurant. The brunet couldn't help but wonder what kind of restaurant, but had never managed to ask.

Morgyn didn't really mind Travis or Summer. By now, Morgyn had even come to kind of enjoy listening to them banter in the evenings. It was just that Liberty was the only one that made the mental fog clear a little.

The sage's head fell back against the window, eyes returning to watching the birds, or at least _looking_ that way. For a moment, Morgyn had to wonder what shifted. If the brunet remembered, maybe Morgyn would ask Travis later. Presuming Travis was any good at deciphering Morgyn's gestures, at least.

But something stepped into Morgyn's view, something brown and white and kind of a light pinkish lavender colour, and there was something else green and brown not far.

Instantly, Morgyn sat up, hands raising to the glass, the book falling to the floor with a loud clatter. Morgyn's vision blurred, and the sage immediately whipped around, ran out the bedroom door, crashing into the wall along the way and outside. Morgyn almost fell over running around the house, but the brunet didn't stop. L and Simeon stopped, turning around, and L held her arms out.

Morgyn ran straight into her grasp, clinging and rapidly dissolving into a frantic mess. L gently rubbed Morgyn's back, the other hand reaching up and petting Morgyn's hair.

"It's okay Morgyn," L said softly. "We're all together again now, see? Everything will be just fine. You're not on your own anymore."

Morgyn just loosed a whine and cried even harder.

"Did you make sure it closed behind us?" L asked, looking up at Simeon.

"Yeah," he answered. "I even tried to scramble the trail."

"Good," L said. "Don't need her following us out here. The suburbs is no place for an occult war. Are you going to cry all day? You'll drown us all."

Morgyn huffed slightly, letting L go and reaching up to brush away tears. L moved Morgyn's hair out of the brunet's face.

"Your hair went brown again," she said. "Did you get bored of being blond?"

Morgyn's head shook, and then seemed to struggle for a moment, before eventually loosing a huff and a frustrated sound. Morgyn looked over at Simeon and gestured for his phone. Simeon looked over at L, but reached into a pocket and handed his phone to Morgyn.

Once again, Morgyn opened the texting app on the brunet's own contact entry, and typed out a message, then handed it back.

_Aine hurt Ezio._

Simeon looked perplexed, L leaning over his shoulder to look at it. She frowned.

"I was hoping you would never figure that out, to some extent," L said, reaching over and taking Morgyn's hands. "You didn't do anything _stupid_ like attack her, did you?"

The look on Morgyn's face answered that question just fine on its own.

L released a sigh. "Of course," she said. "Does she know where to find you?"

Morgyn's head shook.

"Good," L answered. "Where is this? I thought you were moving into the city."

Morgyn reached for Simeon's phone again. Simeon surrendered it easily enough, Morgyn typed again, and then handed it back.

_This is my friend's house. I'm staying with her right now because I got very drunk one night._

L leaned over Simeon's shoulder to read the message again. L turned back to Morgyn, reaching up and brushing brown strands out of green eyes.

"Morgyn, you're not talking," she said.

"And your magic is so jumbled up I should think you can't even use it right now," Simeon added.

"It seems like a little much for just a conversation with Aine," L said. "Did something bad happen when you got drunk?"

Morgyn didn't answer right away, and then the tears welled back up, Morgyn's hands waved in the air for a moment, and the brunet stepped forward and clung to L again.

"My fault," Morgyn whispered.

" ** _No_** ," L answered, very firmly, already petting Morgyn's hair. "There is _never_ an excuse for that. _Ever_. Don't _ever_ think that again, it was _not_ your fault."

Morgyn didn't answer, just loosed a soft whine, and curled up against her even tighter.

L sighed. "Come on," she said. "I've been on my feet for the last few hours and I'd like to sit down if we can."

Morgyn sniffled, letting go again, then took her hand and led them over to the house.

* * *

This time, Morgyn was lying in L's lap, her hand idly running through the brunet's hair as they talked. Or at least, _sort_ of talked. Morgyn hadn't managed any other words, but L was working around it as best she could, and Simeon the same.

Morgyn felt better, of course. The brunet had really missed L, of course, and having not just L but also Simeon around now, it was doing Morgyn some wonders. It was a little easier to focus and stay present than it was before. Between L and Simeon, and Liberty, maybe Morgyn wouldn't get as lost in the brunet's head anymore.

Sitting around and moping, as L always liked to say, wouldn't get anything done. And maybe right now the one Morgyn needed most was, in fact, Ezio.

"Ezio did something," L said, looking down at Morgyn. "Something he did destabilised Sarnai's control over magic realm. It was enough that we were able to escape, and take everyone else that was there when she took over with us."

"No one's left in magic realm now," Simeon said, "barring Ezio and Sarnai, of course. And the other woman."

"Lakshmi," L said. "I believe she's Sarnai's sister."

Morgyn glanced down at the floor. It was good that everyone else was now out of harm's way, but Morgyn still worried. The brunet typed something out on Simeon's phone, for the moment permanently in Morgyn's hand, and held it up for L to read.

"Is Ezio okay," L read. "I believe he is still alive," she said.

"His magical signature is still there, at least," Simeon said. "If we can sense it, then he must still be alive. But I can't say he's in very good shape."

Morgyn's hand dropped onto the floor, and the brunet looked saddened.

"Hey," Simeon said, reaching over to rest a hand gently on Morgyn's, "Ezio is the strongest person I know of. He'll make it. We shouldn't be taking more time to get there than is necessary, but we're all together now and we'll figure it out."

Morgyn typed something again, and held it up.

"Morgyn says Cassandra and Drake are working on something, but no idea what," L said. "Where are they?"

More typing.

"San Myshuno," L read. "I thought I remembered you moving out there."

Morgyn snorted softly. L didn't believe in phones, of course, so she didn't have one. Simeon probably only had one, realistically, because he was constantly talking to Lana. Morgyn thought he was kind of sweet on her.

But either way, he had a phone, and Morgyn had been sending Simeon and indirectly, L, updates about life outside magic realm, right up until Sarnai had interrupted at any rate.

The two of them worried about Morgyn a good deal, and at least with text updates and phone calls, they could rest easy knowing the brunet hadn't gotten killed.

It was a little funny, and a little sad. Morgyn had spent so long trying to get Aine's attention that the brunet had completely missed everyone else, whose eyes had never left Morgyn in the first place. These were things Morgyn was slowly, but surely, figuring out over time.

"In any case," L said, "Sarnai's gone after the All like we all feared. She can't seem to find it, though, but eventually she'll figure out how to. This woman's not stupid in the least. But we likely have a little bit of time before she finds it."

Morgyn typed something out in the phone, and held it up again.

"Liberty is one of the five families, we've been training and Cassandra is too," L read. "Well, that's something. The All would likely respond to their presences when we go back to magic realm."

There was more typing, and Morgyn raised the phone once more.

L read the screen, and then frowned. "Did I know what?" she asked.

Morgyn typed another response.

"Oh," L said. "Yes, I did know that. So did Keisha."

The typing was a little faster than before, and Morgyn practically stabbed the air with the phone.

L read it, and then released a sigh. "Morgyn, you had to hear it from her," she said. "Or you would've never believed it. Aine had a way of making you believe what she wanted you to believe. She had to be the one to shatter your illusions of her."

Morgyn looked furious, for just a moment, and then like the brunet was going to cry, instead. The phone went into the air a little slowly.

"Morgyn, no," L answered. "That was not your fault either, don't you dare blame yourself for that. Aine decided to do what she did. And no matter what you would've done differently, unless her heart changed, nothing else would've."

Morgyn's hand dropped to the floor. The phone slid across the wood.

L immediately shifted around, pulling Morgyn up into her arms, and holding on. Her purple gaze flicked up, looking at Simeon. Simeon tilted his head.

L shook hers. Morgyn wasn't ready for that, not now, not like this.


	17. Burning Out For Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will, eventually, probably today actually, go back through and add images to the huge slew of imageless chapters I just released. This one only has one because this pose was made a long time ago. I have four more of these puppies, and we will be done with TMA’s rewrite and can finally… finally… move forward. Almost a fucking year after the original was completed. Very close to a year since the original was begun, and I. I really did not expect this to take so dang long.
> 
> But, this’ll be fun because nobody has any idea what’s coming in this next book! Okay, like aside from chapter 22’s events. … also I kinda spoiled the entire rest of the series to spousal bean, but you know I guess at this point that’s semantics. Like just assume my spousal bean knows how something goes because yeah she probably does.
> 
> Anyway, at one point, and I deleted it, but Caleb thought something about being able to scent arousal and I actually went researching how arousal works and what happens to your hormones and stuff, and I think if you can scent hormonal changes, you can actually smell arousal! Ta da! Information literally no one asked for!
> 
> Drake is so poly. Ijs. But also he’s not really wrong, either.
> 
> Infra-Red, Three Days Grace  
> This is Cagyn’s ship song.

L was humming something, a song Morgyn remembered her singing many times before. Her fingers deftly separated the tangles from Morgyn's hair, working a slight coating of coconut oil into the brown waves, and then snipping off the split ends.

Morgyn sat on the floor, leaning against the couch she sat on while she worked. Travis was playing video games again, but he and Simeon were having a complete nerd fit together over there about whatever game it was Travis was playing.

The brunet was doing better, already. The sound of Travis and Simeon talking so animatedly about something they both cared about, L humming, and her detangling Morgyn's hair, they all added up to the brunet was far more mentally present than had been common before. Morgyn kind of missed Liberty, though. She said she was only going to be gone a few hours, but it felt like she'd been gone all day.

It wasn't like Morgyn had really been paying attention, and for that matter, Morgyn didn't necessarily have any right to put any sort of demand on her time, either. They were friends, of course. And most likely, it'd be best if Morgyn left them as friends.

But sometimes, Morgyn wanted a little more than that. The question now, of course, was whether Morgyn really wanted a little more than that, or if Morgyn just wanted the intimacy and the warmth of someone that wasn't going to hurt the brunet. Because mistaking one of these things for the other could turn out very damaging for them both.

Maybe that was something to discuss with L, when they weren't in the same room as Simeon and Travis' Great Genie's Curse Debate. (Morgyn didn't understand the draw to video games. But then, Morgyn had never actually _played_ one, either.)

"Your hair's always so beautiful, Morgyn," L said softly. "You should take better care of it."

Morgyn's green eyes looked up at her, the brunet's head not turning with the movement.

L got the message. She laughed. "Come on," she said. "You can't be lazy with _everything_ except setting fire to your enemies. You do know setting fire to it isn't the answer all of the time, right?"

Morgyn's eyebrow raised, and the brunet turned back to watching the television. As Morgyn watched the two nerds working their way through Genie's Curse, there was a very faint something in the air that the brunet suddenly noticed. It'd just gotten into Morgyn's sensing range, which, at the moment with the brunet's magic in a gigantic twist, was very short, but it felt important. And somehow it made Morgyn's heart hurt to sense it.

Thinking about it a little more, and focusing on it a bit harder, Morgyn realised what it was.

Instantly, Morgyn burst into tears. Simeon and Travis looked over in concern and a bit of confusion. L stopped, looking down at the brunet in confusion, but she drew her hands away and moved to hug Morgyn instead. But the younger sage was already up and rushing to the door. Morgyn crashed into it, pulled it open, and bolted down the porch steps, right into Caleb's arms.

"I'm sorry," Caleb said immediately, before Morgyn even touched him, arms wrapping around the brunet. Unlike everyone else, Caleb wasn't surprised by the brown hair colour at all. "I'm so sorry I left you alone like that."

Morgyn's head shook very emphatically, clinging to him even harder.

Liberty, standing next to Caleb, smiled softly. "I told you," Liberty said under her breath.

Caleb shot her a slightly exasperated look.

Morgyn felt like feeling upset about that may be somewhere in the requirements for this situation, but the brunet couldn't be bothered to care about that right this second. Morgyn was just so happy to see him, it didn't even matter where he'd been or why or why it'd taken so long for him to come back.

Morgyn was still frantically crying, and couldn't see straight, but it didn't matter. The brunet separated from Caleb just enough to pull his shirt away from his skin a little.

"Wait Morgyn-" Caleb squeaked in protest.

But instead of pulling it _off_ , Morgyn scooted under it, and with enough work, the brunet's head popped out of the neck hole with Caleb's and rested on his shoulder, chin draping over his neck.

"Hold me," Morgyn whispered. "Please."

Caleb's eyes narrowed slightly, and he loosed a sigh somewhere between exasperated and sad, but then reached down and hooked his arms behind Morgyn's knees, pulling the sage up against him.

For a moment, the restriction almost started upsetting Morgyn, but the feel of Caleb's energy, his scent, it chased it away, and Morgyn simply remembered that this _was_ Caleb. And maybe the stupid didn't always know how to show it, but, when they were together, Morgyn never did question how Caleb felt.

"Come on," Liberty said, nodding towards the house. "That looks like it may be a little easier if you can sit down."

Caleb smiled. "Believe it or not," he said, "I can probably stand here like this all day."

"I believe it just fine," Liberty said. "But it doesn't make it a _good idea_." She turned and headed up the porch stairs.

Caleb snorted, and followed her. "Yeah, I guess it doesn't."

The three of them wandered into the house, and Caleb settled down in a seat. His grip on Morgyn loosened a little bit now that he wasn't almost all that was keeping the brunet from falling.

"Hey L, Simeon," Caleb said. "You must be Travis, nice to meet you."

"Well, nice to see you again, Caleb," L said. "How's Lilith?"

Caleb shrugged. "She's stable," he said. "Got into it with Sarnai, kind of messed herself up a bit, but she'd getting better. I ended up leaving her with some friends of ours. They're girls, maybe they'll have better luck deciphering what the cat wants."

The cat? Morgyn didn't ask. If Lilith had gotten into a fight with Sarnai, though, but had survived, then it was definitely possible to defeat her.

Morgyn didn't care right now. Right now, Morgyn just wanted to sit here and enjoy being this close to Caleb. He'd said he needed time and some space, and the only thing Morgyn had learnt from the separation was how much the brunet needed him.

Morgyn just didn't feel right without him. The brunet was starting to feel right again.

* * *

Morgyn didn't smell right. Caleb hadn't asked about it, though it seemed like Liberty had some vague idea as to why.

L and Simeon decided to head to Simeon's place. L was looking into getting an apartment of her own somewhere, but in the meantime, she'd just be staying with Simeon in Oasis Springs. Caleb was quite sure they'd only told him so that he could tell Morgyn, whenever Morgyn woke up.

L had also congratulated him for quitting some of his _hobbies_ , and suggested taking up yoga instead, and it was then that Caleb remembered exactly how much L tended to know.

It was almost dawn. Liberty had gone to sleep on the other couch, and once Morgyn had fallen asleep against him, Caleb had laid down too, mostly to keep Morgyn's knees from staying bent too long.

Morgyn didn't smell right, didn't _feel_ right, and wasn't really talking anymore. What the _fuck_ had he missed?

Idly, Caleb raised a hand and pet Morgyn's hair. Strangely, this kind of reminded him of that night he spent with Ezio, just their roles were a little bit reversed. Caleb tried not to think about Ezio too much. Despite the fact Caleb had fled, he knew that Ezio was right, and while he'd taken a little longer than he should've to listen, he had eventually listened.

Mostly because his sister nearly dying and requiring a steady supply of plasma was a lot more important than getting high.

Liberty stirred, and then rolled over, and sat up. One hand rubbed her eyes, and she laid back down. Caleb snorted softly.

"Still tired?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah," Liberty said. "It's been a long week."

Yeah, Caleb could imagine it had been, if this was what Morgyn had been like the entire time. They were quiet for a moment. Caleb broke the silence.

"What happened?" he asked.

Liberty stared up at the ceiling, for a few heartbeats. "That isn't mine to tell you," she said. "That's Morgyn's."

Caleb released a sigh, but even as he felt that stab of frustration, he knew she was right. And yet, if he thought about it logically, he could guess. He could guess just fine what happened, because he knew Morgyn well enough to make the jumps.

He didn't think his heart would ever be ready to accept what his head already knew. And maybe if Morgyn never told him what happened, it wouldn't ever have to.

"Morgyn should be angrier with me," Caleb said. "I messed up. I messed up a lot. And I really hurt him." Caleb would have to be pretty stupid not to know that. But if the paranoia had taught him anything, it was that it _really_ had to stretch and push things to make him turn against Morgyn in the first place.

And if the time apart had taught him anything, it was that it was literally painful to be away from Morgyn for too long, now. Maybe they weren't Drake and Ezio. Maybe their love would never be the same as their's. But maybe they had a bond just about as strong, and two different pairs of people didn't _have_ to love each other in the same way.

Maybe Caleb had spent so long wanting what he didn't have, that he'd missed what he did.

Liberty released a sigh, still staring up at the ceiling. "It wasn't hard to figure out," she said. "I wasn't surprised Morgyn's not mad at you in the least. I told you Morgyn needs you. Maybe things aren't perfect, maybe you two need to talk about things, work some stuff out, I don't know. But what I do know is Morgyn's going through one of the hardest times of his life right now I should imagine, and the first person he asked for by name, even if not consciously, was you."

Caleb breathed out. "I'm just afraid Morgyn can't forgive me," he said.

"Of course you are," Liberty answered. "That's your anxiety, telling you that you're not worthy of being forgiven. But you do know, don't you, that the things in your head, they don't make Morgyn's decisions, right?"

Caleb looked over at her, a little startled. How did she manage to make these things sound so _easy_ and _simple_? She kept doing that, and every time, Caleb got a little more fond of her.

"Everyone makes mistakes, Caleb," Liberty went on. "That's just part of being human, and you should really quit holding your humanity against yourself. I assume that humanity is the thing that separates you from the monsters with fangs everyone tells about in stories. It isn't a problem to make mistakes. It's a problem not to learn from them."

"What if I can't?" Caleb asked. "Sometimes it's like I make some progress, and then I end up five steps back suddenly, right back to things I know are bad ideas because it's easier."

Liberty was quiet a moment, thinking. Then, she took a breath in. "Sometimes, Caleb," she said, "you have to understand that love isn't a one-person thing. That, when you love someone, and they love you in return, the decisions you make and the actions you take can and most likely will affect someone that cares for you very deeply. It means that, when there's a love like the one you and Morgyn have, whatever you do to you, you do to Morgyn."

Caleb frowned, thinking about that. She was probably right about that, but he wasn't sure how that helped, exactly. Then again, on second thought, he thought he understood.

"Morgyn loves you," she said. "You love Morgyn. Just think to yourself, would Morgyn be upset that I did this? And then if the answer is yes, don't. Treat yourself the same way you treat Morgyn. And maybe ask yourself why it is that you want to do that thing or make that choice. Because maybe the real reason isn't the thing itself, but something else."

"I've never thought about the whys," Caleb admitted softly.

"I figured you hadn't," Liberty said. "But you can't find the light if you never acknowledge the darkness."

That was an interesting way of putting it. They both went quiet for a good while again, both apparently thinking. It wasn't a tense silence, not really, or at least it didn't feel that way to him.

Liberty sat up, and then put her feet on the floor. "Summer and Travis have been good sports about all of this," she said, "but I think we should stop imposing on their hospitality. Take him home today."

Caleb looked over at her. And something about the way she was looking at Morgyn made a little light bulb go off in his head.

"You love him too, don't you," Caleb said, not even really a question because he could _see_ the answer right there in her mismatched eyes.

Liberty stood up, heading down the hallway to the bathroom.

"Liberty," Caleb called after her.

"I don't know what I feel," she said, and then opened the bathroom door and closed it behind her.

* * *

For the most part, Morgyn hadn't seemed interested in the slightest in letting Caleb go. Caleb didn't really mind it, but there were a few things to do. Once they got back to Spire, Drake and Cassandra asked about a million questions. Morgyn didn't answer any of them, because the sage still wasn't really talking, but once in a while Morgyn managed one or two words.

Drake and Cassandra were working on plans for getting into magic realm. Caleb had spoken to them a little about said plans off and on, while Morgyn was sleeping, but they'd not really committed to anything in particular. None of them wanted to definitively decide on anything until Morgyn had the opportunity to hear the plans and offer thoughts on them.

But one good thing had come of the attack on Lilith at Forgotten Hollow. Sarnai had, probably unintentionally, given them the answer to at least _one_ of their problems. Beyond that one problem, sure, they still had more problems, but these seemed like less notable problems, to be sure.

The sheer frequency with which Morgyn ended up attached to him was somewhat stunning, but Caleb wasn't going to complain. They were, again, attached to one another, Morgyn resting against Caleb's chest. Morgyn was at least becoming _notably_ more present every day that the brunet spent all day attached to him.

Whatever it was that made Morgyn feel better, Caleb would go along with. He managed to find time to leave here and there all the same, so it was no matter.

"Morgyn?" Caleb said softly.

Morgyn looked up at him, and the brunet's head tilted to the side.

As cute as Morgyn was when playing charades, Caleb sorely missed the sound of the sage's voice. That dorky little laugh Morgyn had, too, Caleb missed that.

"Do you have a plan, for getting Ezio back?" he asked.

Morgyn looked away for a moment, and then the brunet's head shook. Then, Morgyn looked back up at him and made a 'I don't know' kind of gesture.

Caleb snorted softly. "I may have an idea," he said.

Morgyn looked interested, at least, so Caleb kept talking.

"Sarnai's attack on Lilith incidentally taught me something," he said. "It turns out a vampire's mist form operates through the in-between. It can go right around magic realm's barrier."

Morgyn looked a little confused, and Caleb could _almost_ hear Morgyn asking 'how?' in his head, just by watching the expression on the sage's face.

"Well, the barrier only exists in one dimension, right?" Caleb said. "It can't block things that go at it just slightly to the left. So, a vampire's mist form, that only _kind of_ exists in this dimension _anyway_ , goes right around it."

Morgyn's expression turned thoughtful. Caleb smiled a little.

"The only thing we'd need is a plan for when we get there," he said. "Drake and Cassandra are trying to formulate a weapon of some kind that can give you an advantage over her."

Morgyn looked sad, and then reached for the phone nearby. It was one of Ezio's old ones, not in service anymore, but it still held a charge and did the job. (It also managed to keep Morgyn occupied with phone games.) Morgyn typed on it, and then turned it so Caleb could see.

"It may be too late, sure," Caleb answered, "but it may not be, too. Look, we can speculate and wonder how Ezio's doing all the live long day, Morgyn, but the only thing that's going to answer those questions is going. Never mind that even without Ezio being there, you can't ignore this because magic realm is threatened. There's still something worth fighting for here, Morgyn."

Morgyn went quiet, looking away and curling up against Caleb.

Caleb released a sigh. "You need Ezio more than you need me," he said. And it'd always been that way. It always _was_ going to be that way, and frankly, if it wasn't, that would be somewhat strange to him. Morgyn and Ezio were perhaps the same person in two different bodies.

Caleb would never be so presumptuous as to think he could stand in for or replace that. Chances were, he had no chance in hell in doing anything of the sort.

Morgyn started to type something out on the phone, and Caleb started to read it as the brunet went. And then reached down and laid a hand over Morgyn's fingers.

"Please don't," Caleb said softly. "I know you're tired, and I know you're hurting, and I'm sorry for asking it but please don't give up. Ezio would never give up on you. Don't give up on him. Morgyn, if you give up, then that's it. You'll never be able to make anything better."

Morgyn was quiet for a long moment, and then Caleb felt the brunet start shaking. It was quiet, but Morgyn had started to cry. Caleb took the phone, turning it off and putting it on the table again, and then wrapped his arms around Morgyn.

It was going to be a long road to recovery. For them both.

* * *

All things considered, he was doing a little better than Caleb had expected him to be. It only took about a day or two for Caleb to figure out that Cassandra was literally the only thing keeping Drake moving right now. That, and perhaps the knowledge that if he didn't do anything, Ezio was going to die.

They never talked about it. Ezio had turned Drake into a vampire primarily on accident; Drake had blown up a potion and the particular way the dice had landed made it a very terrible injury. Ezio didn't want him to die. That was the magic's answer.

If Drake had died all those years ago, Caleb imagined Ezio wouldn't be nearly so stable and compassionate as he was.

Caleb had been wondering, ever since he started questioning Morgyn's occupation, if it was possible to share someone and still love them and feel loved in return. Drake seemed okay enough about the arrangement between himself, Ezio, and Cassandra, but Caleb had never asked. Maybe he wasn't. Maybe he was.

That was how Caleb had ended up wandering out onto the balcony, where Drake was staring out across the bay, and sitting down next to him. Drake glanced over at him, and then looked back at the city.

Neither said anything for a long moment, and then Drake took a breath in. "He was right," he said.

Caleb looked over at him. "Who was right about what?" Caleb asked.

"Ezio," Drake said. "He said the city lights looked like stars. And he was right."

Oh. Truth be told, Caleb had never really thought about it too hard. Caleb liked the stars well enough, not nearly so much as Ezio did, that was for sure (that man should've been an astronaut), but they usually weren't at the forefront of his mind.

"I guess he was," Caleb said, watching the lights twinkle. They did almost seem to flicker and dance like starlight.

"Being out here helps me feel like it's not as hopeless as my anxiety wants to tell me it is," Drake said.

Well, if it worked for him, Caleb saw no reason to change anything. "If it's working for you, that's good," Caleb said.

Drake didn't say anything back, but Caleb could see it in his eyes, the way the glow dimmed. Drake just missed him, and wasn't sure exactly how to deal with it. Caleb couldn't say he had any better ideas.

"I wanted to ask you," Caleb started, "about something, if you were willing to talk about it."

"What's that?" Drake asked.

"You and Ezio and Cassandra," Caleb answered. "It just seems kind of strange. Like you can't possibly be happy that way."

Drake side-eyed him like he wanted to say something, but then changed his mind. His gaze went back across the water. "It requires a lot of communication," Drake said. "A lot of making time for each other, both in pairs, and all three of us. Ezio's always busy, but somehow he finds the time to make us both feel appreciated. Cassandra and I have started to understand each other. I don't _love_ her, not that way. I could if I tried, I think. But neither of us sees a reason to try it."

"You don't feel like Ezio loves you any less?" Caleb asked.

Drake looked at him again, eyebrows raising and an incredulous 'what a child' look on his face for a moment. "Of course not," Drake said. "Don't be ridiculous. My relationship with Ezio isn't threatened by Cassandra's relationship with him. They're not the same. They don't cancel each other out."

Caleb tilted his head. "I've always heard if you love someone and then fall in love with someone else, you didn't love the first one to start with."

Drake snorted. "When a monogamous pairing falls apart because of cheating, _most_ of the time, the root issue isn't the actual cheating. It's something that _led_ to it. Cheating is a symptom of something else, like jealousy is, even if it's a symptom of something so simple as wanting to have sex with someone new.

"It sort of ties into another problem where too many people equate love and sex, and they're not the same thing," Drake went on. "Why exactly dating someone inherently means you have the right to tell your partner what they can and cannot do with their body is beyond me, and once you get past the surface-level things, it just sounds really bad. But that's a whole other can of worms."

Caleb frowned. That directly challenged just about everything he believed in. That was probably to be expected in a monogamous world, Caleb guessed. "You wouldn't mind, if Ezio just, tripped into having sex with someone else?" he asked.

Drake shrugged. "The most pressing concern in that situation would be if he was safe about it and it was consensual. Beyond that? Nope. Ezio's a grown man and can decide what he wants on his own, and it has very little to do with me. The rules of attraction are many and varied. You might say there really aren't any. He loves me. I don't question that. I question _why_ a lot, but I don't question that he does. But loving someone does not automatically mean that they are sexually attracted to you. There are many reasons why that may be. Maybe he's just not. Maybe he's heterosexual, and biromantic. Maybe the only man in his entire life he's ever been attracted to in any capacity is me, and it's not sexually. Others may be asexual, or just not like sex. Sex-related trauma is also another common one. There are many, many reasons why. Love is not sex is not love."

Caleb sighed, raising a hand to his head. This was more complicated than Caleb was expecting it to be.

Drake drew a breath in, watching him. "It's not so hard," he said. "Love isn't a thing that exists, Caleb. It's not a goalpost that you seek to reach. It is a thing that you make. It is something you build, together, for the rest of your lives together. It must be worked on, and worked towards. If you need something, talk to Morgyn. If something is making you unhappy, talk to Morgyn. If something makes you feel like you're not good enough, talk to Morgyn. Work with each other, not against. The rest will come too."

* * *

Caleb had at least figured out that one of the reasons Morgyn smelled wrong was because the brunet hadn't been eating very well. More accurately, Morgyn hadn't been _eating_. The levels of Morgyn's just-about-everything were _completely_ off base from where Caleb knew they should be, so as soon as he'd figured it out, at the first opportunity, Caleb went into the kitchen and started cooking.

Truthfully, Caleb enjoyed food. It was kind of like some sort of wizardry for him. There were semantics and specifics, and also common sense things, presentation. It was both an art, and a science, and there was nothing like feeling like he was taking care of the people he cared for.

He wouldn't admit it, of course, but the primary reason he'd learnt to cook at all was because of Morgyn. Being blunt, Morgyn was absolute shit at self-care, and always had been. Nothing had changed in that regard. If anything, as Morgyn had gotten older, the brunet had gotten worse at it.

For now, everything he'd made was in the fridge. Cassandra was also mortal and needed sustenance, and if she ate one more peanut butter and jelly sandwich, Caleb was going to lose every ounce of his shit.

Morgyn should be just about to wake up from that nap. Caleb shuffled around the kitchen, getting the dishes he'd used loaded into the dishwasher, and then headed up the stairs. Caleb didn't think it was a good idea to leave Morgyn alone for too long, especially given Morgyn seemed to have no interest in _being_ left alone.

Quietly, he opened the bedroom door, and closed it behind him. Morgyn was sitting by the window, staring out onto the street below. Caleb shuffled over, sitting down nearby. Morgyn immediately reached over and claimed his arm.

"You doing okay?" Caleb asked.

Morgyn shrugged one shoulder.

That was a better response than Caleb had been expecting, being totally honest about it. He wasn't going to quibble. He'd asked, Morgyn told him the truth, and that was as good as it needed to be.

Caleb could _probably_ use to be more honest with Morgyn, too. Just, maybe not right this second. Morgyn was still recovering from a lot of things and trying to regain enough footing to have the will to go deal with Sarnai and hopefully save Ezio. Caleb didn't want to put any more on the brunet than he already had.

And yet, that mindset was what had gotten him into this mess in the first place, wasn't it?

"Have you eaten recently?" Caleb asked.

Morgyn's head shook against his arm. "Can't," the brunet answered. "Sick."

Ah, of course Morgyn was feeling sick. It was probably just a matter of too many stressors being active at once. "Okay," Caleb said. "If you still can't eat anything later, I'll make some broth or something. You need to get _something_ into you."

Morgyn shifted around, looking up at him, and then something Caleb couldn't immediately identify crossed the brunet's face. With the lights dimmed, the bluish tint from the outside illuminating one side, shimmering in those brown waves, Morgyn was utterly beautiful.

But Caleb had always thought that, and probably would even if Morgyn wasn't to everyone else.

Morgyn moved and hugged him properly, rather than just his arm. They sat there for a long moment, and then the brunet moved again, sitting up so that Morgyn was level with Caleb. The gap between them started to close, and Caleb's heart sped up, and then Morgyn stopped, backed away, and moved to settle back down where the brunet had been before.

Caleb reached down, gently pulling Morgyn back up level with him. "Why'd you stop?" he asked quietly.

Morgyn snorted softly, looking down at the floor. "You would," Morgyn answered.

And the worst part was, Morgyn was probably right. Caleb wasn't quite so sure about doing anything of the sort right now, not when he suspected what he suspected, but he couldn't tell Morgyn what the brunet wanted, either. If it turned out to be too much, if they went too far, they could just stop. Caleb would just have to be careful, because Morgyn may not know it was too much until it was too late.

"I just, never really knew how you felt about me," Caleb said. "My head was telling me one thing, my heart said another. The head and the heart, they don't really get along very well."

Morgyn glanced away. "Obvious," the brunet said. "I was."

Caleb's eyes closed for a moment. "Yeah," he said. "I guess you were. I think... I just didn't want you to feel like you had to want me. I didn't want to be another duty."

The brunet released a loud snort. "You're an _idiot_ ," Morgyn said.

Yes, Caleb knew that, but did Morgyn have to _say_ it?

"The only one I want to want me is _you_ ," Morgyn ground out. It seemed hard to say it. "And you _don't_ , and it _hurts_."

Morgyn reached up, hands smacking into the brunet's face lightly a few times. Caleb saw the sparkling of the light off Morgyn's tears before he saw them, but he reached up, gently putting Morgyn's hands down, brushing the tears away with his thumbs.

Of course he wanted Morgyn. He'd wanted Morgyn so much for so long, he almost didn't know what to do with it all. Was that really how it seemed like? But how could it seem like anything else? If you rejected someone enough times, go figure, they started to feel rejected.

God, he really was an idiot.

Maybe Caleb should shut up, and _show_ Morgyn what he meant, instead. Gently, and somewhat slowly, so as not to set Morgyn off into a sudden panic, he tilted Morgyn's head up, and pressed his lips against Morgyn's.

And for a moment, Morgyn didn't respond, seemingly surprised by it. But then the brunet shifted, kissing back. On their own, the two separated, and when their lips met again, their tongues met too. Morgyn moved, sliding into Caleb's lap, arms wrapping around Caleb's neck, and just being this close like this was almost enough to set every nerve in Caleb's body on fire.

Morgyn seemed to want more than just a kiss. Caleb wasn't so sure that was a good idea. Not if what Caleb thought happened, did. He backed up, for just a moment. Morgyn looked confused.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Caleb asked. "We don't have to-"

"Shh," Morgyn said, catching his lips again. Caleb supposed that was an answer, why not. He wasn't going to try telling Morgyn what the brunet wanted. He just hoped Morgyn had thought about it more than it seemed like. He'd just make sure he did this right.

He was careful about it. He explored, caressed, kissed every bit of skin he could reach, but he was very gentle, and didn't move too fast, treating Morgyn's body like the temple it was, paying very close attention to every little thing Morgyn did.

Morgyn seemed a little unsure from time to time, breath hitching here and there, but Caleb stopped and backed up, and let Morgyn decide when they were moving again. Caleb had never spent so long worshipping someone's body like this, but it was the body Morgyn lived in, and Caleb loved it just as much as he loved Morgyn.

Caleb scooted backward across the floor, away from the windows. Morgyn looked amused, leaning over and crawling across the wood and back into his lap, lingering a hair's breath away from Caleb. Their lips met again, Morgyn's body pressed against his, hips grinding against Caleb's jeans slightly, and fire ignited in Caleb's veins. He almost moved too quick, but he stopped himself before he could, shoving it down. Slow and steady.

Gently, Caleb's fingers slipped under Morgyn's shirt, running over the skin, teasing slightly. Morgyn loosed a surprised sound into Caleb's mouth, and then they separated, and Caleb slipped the shirt off. Their lips rejoined, and then separated again, but their faces stayed close, their breath mixing and mingling. Morgyn's fingers slowly went down Caleb's shirt, unfastening the buttons one by one, the other hand exploring the skin under the fabric as it fell away. Morgyn's hands slid over his shoulders, slipping the shirt off.

One moved in for a kiss. The other teasingly backed away, and they played a game teasing each other for a moment. Caleb gently ran his fingers through Morgyn's hair. Morgyn's head tilted slightly at the touch, and Caleb's lips met the brunet's jaw, feather light kisses trailing down Morgyn's neck, to the collar bone, and still lower.

He had to shift around, putting Morgyn between him and the floor, but the moment Caleb put any of his weight onto Morgyn, the brunet's breathing went erratic and Morgyn tensed up. "It's okay," Caleb murmured. "I won't hurt you, it's alright..." Amid the murmurs, Caleb raised his head, his arms resting on the floor as he gently petted Morgyn's hair, and after a moment or two, the brunet's breathing evened back out.

"M'okay," Morgyn said, after another minute or so, almost panting.

"Are you sure?" Caleb asked. He didn't want to move too fast.

Morgyn thought about it for a moment, and then nodded. Caleb wouldn't insult the brunet by asking again, so instead, he went back to trailing those feather light kisses across Morgyn's skin, down the brunet's ribs. Caleb had to scoot down to reach, trailing kisses all the way down to Morgyn's waistband, and then back up. Morgyn's back arched, a shuddering breath loosing.

There was a little more breath spluttering over Caleb's hand slipping under Morgyn's waistband, but he paused and waited for it to go again. When Morgyn released a little shuddering pleased breath, Caleb trailed kisses back down Morgyn's abdomen, slowly separating the brunet from out of these pants along the way.

Morgyn moved up onto the brunet's knees, hips shifting to one side, hands sliding Caleb's jeans off. Caleb hardly thought twice about it, as their lips met again, and his hands slid down Morgyn's sides, one of them coming to rest on Morgyn's hip, the other cupping Morgyn's cheek. Morgyn wanted him, and Morgyn's want was fuelling his own desire.

Caleb moved slightly, sort of stepping out of his jeans. Morgyn pressed tightly up against him, like the brunet wanted them to fuse into one, but the closeness was setting Caleb's nerves on fire. Every little bit of him Morgyn touched tingled afterwards, and Caleb loved every second of it.

Morgyn's fingers gently lingered over the scars marring Caleb's skin. The question was in Morgyn's eyes, but the brunet didn't ask. Caleb found, there were faint marks littered across Morgyn's skin, too, but Caleb didn't ask either. Instead, Caleb pressed his lips against every single one of them, memorising where they were, the precise shade they turned Morgyn's skin for their presence.

He wanted to know every little detail of Morgyn's body, so well he'd be able to close his eyes, and draw it from memory.

Even being this close to Morgyn didn't feel like it was close enough. Morgyn loosed a soft little whine, reaching over to rest a hand against Caleb's jaw and raise his head. Lips met, tongues danced, Morgyn slipped up into Caleb's lap, legs wrapping around his waist, and subtly pulled Caleb down onto the floor.

Morgyn reached down, moving Caleb into position, but he took Morgyn's hand in his, kissing the back of it, holding it to his chest.

"Not yet," Caleb whispered.

Morgyn whined.

"Just a second," Caleb answered, and he lowered his weight onto Morgyn.

Just like he suspected Morgyn was going to, the brunet's breathing went erratic again. "Shhh," Caleb soothed. "It's still alright." But trying to enter Morgyn with the brunet that close to freaking out, it probably wasn't going to work out, and Caleb did not want to fuck this up.

He waited, until Morgyn's breathing evened out, and had been even for a minute or two. Then, he leaned over, still holding Morgyn's hand, trailing kisses across the brunet's shoulder, his other hand resting on Morgyn's hip.

As gently as he could, he started working his way in, a little at a time. He didn't get very far, before Morgyn's breathing went wrong, and the brunet loosed a near panicked noise. Immediately, Caleb stopped.

"Hey," Caleb said, tone hushed, the hand not holding Morgyn's brushing against the brunet's cheekbone. "You're alright, it's okay. Do you need me to back out?"

Morgyn's head shook, tilting back. Caleb's senses as hyper-aware as they were, he smelled the salt before the tears slipped free. Caleb's free hand caught them as they went, brushing them away on one side. The other side, Caleb very gently kissed them away.

"We can stop if you want to," Caleb said. "We don't have to do this, Morgyn."

Morgyn drew a shuddering breath in, one leg moving and wrapping around Caleb's. "I want, someone I want touching me, to touch me," Morgyn said. The brunet was still having a little trouble speaking, it would seem. "I don't wanna feel them anymore, Caleb, I wanna feel _you_."

In that moment, Caleb realised two things. One, his logic was correct, and what he _thought_ had happened, seemed to have actually happened. Two, Morgyn trusted him _immensely_ to be doing this with him right now.

Caleb raised the hand he was still holding, kissing the knuckles. "I'll wait for you," he said, his other hand gently stroking Morgyn's cheek. "For you, I'll wait forever, just like this, if that is what you need."


	18. It's All a Mystery

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We’ve decided Liberty must be some kind of powerful Asian spirit, probably a dragon, and her nickname is Thunder. The dragon sword was a random ass side note that I threw in for funsies because what is a magical mystical adventure without a magic sword?
> 
> Only a few chapters left, so we should be done with TMA tomorrow. Kind of excited, kind of nervous.
> 
> I intended to go back and do the old chapters’ images but so far, I haven’t had the time, so I guess it’ll have to wait until the end lol Also, literally everything Liberty feels about being Chinese, I feel about being Hispanic. c:
> 
> Let it Be; Blackmill Ft Veela

If anyone asked, and so far she'd been asked by at least five people a total of around twelve times, she was fine. Liberty Lee was _not_ depressed. Or at least, she wasn't depressed for the reasons everyone seemed to think she was.

It was a little more complicated than having a crush on Morgyn, but it wasn't like Liberty wanted to _talk_ about it.

For the most part, she'd much rather pretend it hadn't happened at all. That wasn't working in her favour so well, but she supposed _that_ was to be expected, too. She had physics homework to do, a term paper to write, toilets to clean, and nightmares to pretend weren't upsetting her sleep patterns.

Listen, she was _really_ tempted to get super drunk and pass out just to get some rest already. It was like Morgyn was here, and her subconscious knew she had to stay functional to take care of the brunet. And then when Morgyn was gone, all the demons reared their heads at once. She'd be pissed off if she wasn't exasperated.

Conveniently, too, she'd lost Morgyn's number.

In the meantime, the one was still trying to press assault with a weapon charges against her and was having precisely no luck at all. He was going to do something stupid, she just knew it. Well, he'd better hope his stupidity didn't clue Ezio in to what happened while he was gone when he got back, or from what she heard, not even god could save him.

Frankly, Libs would _pay_ to see that.

Liberty sat completely silent at the breakfast bar, picking at her rice-oatmeal. It was just white rice, but she coated it in sugar, butter, and a bit of milk like one would oatmeal. It worked out. Summer and Travis were having a rather animated discussion in the living room about _something_ , but Liberty hadn't been paying enough attention to know what they were talking about.

It was inevitable, when Summer eventually sat down at the bar next to her. "Hey," she said, leaning over and bumping into Liberty's shoulder with her own. "You doing okay?"

Not really. "Just fine," she said. "Why?"

"I don't know," Summer answered. "You seem a bit too quiet anymore."

Liberty snorted. "I was never very loud to begin with," she said. "That was always _your_ job."

"Not really," Summer said.

"You got even louder after you joined the cheer squad," Liberty said. "Gimme an L-O-U-D!"

Summer rolled her eyes. "Alright, I get it," she said. "You know, if you need to talk, I'll always listen."

Yeah, Liberty knew that. It didn't make it easy to talk about, and really, this whole thing seemed a little messed up. It wasn't _her_ trauma to have. Then again, the most violent thing she'd ever seen in her life was that one time Charity had crashed into a fence on a bicycle. And then Liberty had _stabbed_ one of them.

Maybe this was excusable.

If she'd just not lost track of Morgyn in the first place, then none of this would've happened. There was no sense in thinking that way, because it wouldn't _change_ anything. She couldn't help feeling that way, though.

"There's nothing to say," Liberty said. "Things happened. Now they're over."

Summer made a face at her. "But are they over in your head?"

Of course they were. What kind of question was that? She wasn't constantly thinking about it over and over and over, she wasn't replaying it in her mind trying to find some better thing she could've done, she didn't wake up to the sound of Morgyn's screaming ringing in her ears every other night or so, she didn't randomly jerk awake at 3am for no reason, and she didn't spook at nothing constantly.

"I just don't understand why it won't go away," Liberty said.

Summer released a sigh, reaching over and taking Liberty's hand. "Because that's not how these things work, necessarily," she said. "It's okay not to be okay, you know?"

"I have other things to do," Liberty said. "I can't spend the time on being upset over something that didn't even _happen_ to me."

"It happened to someone you care about," Summer said. "That's close enough. And it's okay to need some time to yourself, to take care of you. You take care of everyone else, Libs, why not yourself?"

Yeah, being honest about it, Liberty didn't know. Except that she wasn't accustomed to anyone really giving a damn how she felt, and had never really bothered caring about what she felt either. Her parents cared, maybe. But they always seemed to care more about carrying on the family name and all that.

Honour and prestige, right?

She didn't understand it. That was probably why she wasn't a doctor.

"You really like Morgyn, don't you?" Summer asked.

Liberty looked over at her, and then back down to her rice-oatmeal. "Doesn't matter," she said. "Morgyn's got a boyfriend, and I'd just be in the way."

It was more complicated than that, Liberty knew, but Summer didn't need to. Everything was difficult and Liberty didn't know how she felt about anything anymore. And most of the time, she just told herself it didn't matter, anyway, and then her feelings flared up, totally as a fuck you, and proved her wrong.

But there were a lot of reasons why Liberty had no intention of ever saying anything to Morgyn about liking him. However, if anyone ever fucked with Morgyn again, she may turn into a violent psycho. And maybe keeping a decent distance was a good idea, in that case.

Or maybe she was using it as an excuse to pretend she didn't feel anything at all. She sure wished she didn't.

"I'm sorry, Liberty," Summer said.

Liberty shook her head. "It doesn't matter," she said. "Even if he didn't, it'd never work out."

"What makes you say that?" Summer asked.

"He's way out of my league," Liberty answered with a snort. "And sometimes just being around him is painful. He's got scars in him, hurts that run so deep they've become a part of him. Morgyn needs things I don't think I can give him, that's all."

* * *

"Charity, _enough_ ," Trinity said, shuffling around the kitchen as she made dinner. "We're not missing your cousin's wedding because you don't want to wear a dress."

"Liberty doesn't have to go, why do I?" Charity said, crossing her arms and sliding down in her seat on the couch.

Liberty just raised an eyebrow, drinking some of her tea.

"Because Liberty is twenty two," Trinity answered. "When _you're_ twenty two, you can skip your cousins' weddings. Until then, you're going."

"It's not fair," Charity said under her breath. "I didn't ask to be born second."

Sometimes, Charity was awfully spoiled, and in other ways, she was very much not spoiled at all. Their mother was a little more lenient with Charity in some ways than she had been raising Liberty, but there were still lines that neither of them were allowed to cross.

Skipping important family functions, those were on the list.

Liberty had spent her entire life hating that she was Chinese. Hating that her family was so different. She had the one friend that was also Chinese, and then never made another Chinese friend again. When that friend was gone, and the other Asian kids in school tried to make friends with her, she'd push them away, because she didn't want to be that stuck up Asian that only hung out with other Asians.

Maybe that was why she ended up with the _whitest_ best friends known to man. Blond hair, blue eyes. Okay Travis's eyes were brown, but close enough.

Sure, she'd learnt Mandarin, but that was only for the job opportunities. She still ate rice with every meal because she didn't know how else to cook, but she used to yell at her mother for making things that had rice included. Demanded to know why they couldn't eat chicken nuggets and burgers for dinner like every other family did. For a while there, she'd barely ever gone home.

She wouldn't be going to the wedding, because she had no interest in seeing that side of the family. The side of the family that only ever called her by her Chinese name. She didn't answer to it anymore, and when they called her by that name and she didn't answer, you know someone's grandma was going to get pissed.

But slowly, a little at a time, she found the pride in who and what she was again. And now, she seemed to be trying to reclaim everything she'd never wanted to be at a far more rapid pace. Maybe it was because unbinding her magic, it'd made her start remembering things she'd tried to forget.

Her grandfather's guidance, her grandmother's wisdom, the little things they'd tell her about the natural world and how things were all connected together in ways you'd never expect. How they'd tell her that, no matter how much she wanted to be someone else, the only person she could ever be was her.

She hated being Chinese so much at one time she'd even been the first one in her family to start spelling it _Lee_. It was supposed to be Li.

Charity stood up, stomping off somewhere to sulk.

Trinity released a sigh. "Sometimes, I wish your sister was more like you," she said.

Liberty snorted. "No you don't," she said. "I was a terror at her age." What with the complaining about being too Chinese thing, and all.

"I don't know," Trinity said, "you came around."

"She will, too, mom," Liberty answered. She set her teacup down on the table, her hands resting on either side of it.

Trinity released a breath, setting the dishtowel in her hand down, and shuffling over to sit down next to Liberty. One of her hands rested on Liberty's wrist.

"You seem like something's bothering you," Trinity said.

Yeah, she was sure she did. "Out of curiosity," Liberty said, "has anyone in our family been... you know... a little _weird_?"

Trinity laughed. "Of course," she answered. "Most of our family's a little weird, Liberty."

"Like, random electrical shorts kind of weird?" Liberty asked.

Trinity's laughed quieted down. She gave Liberty a strange look, but then stood up, and took Liberty's hand, tugging her off somewhere. They went down into the basement, and Trinity let her hand go, turning on the light. "Now let's see here... where did I put it..."

Liberty raised an eyebrow, watching her mother rummage around in the boxes. It seemed like several minutes, before she sat up straight, one hand raising to her head, and then turned around and went after a box under the stairs.

"Aha!" she exclaimed. And when she returned, Trinity handed Liberty a leather-bound book, and a very long box. Liberty took the book, sitting down on the stairs to flip open the cover. It smelled and _sounded_ old, with the crinkling the pages were doing, but the pages were somehow in decent shape.

It was all written in Chinese, though. She may need to remember how to read and write in Chinese to make any sense of this.

Trinity knelt down at the base of the stairs with the long box, wiggling the lid off. Inside it was a velvet wrapped something. Trinity took it out, unwrapping it to reveal a sword hilt.

"These have been passed down through the Li family for generations," Trinity said. "That is our family's spell book. In it, you'll find recipes for tonics and potions that no magic user now can teach you, the semantics of ancient Chinese magic and how to tap into it in your spell work, varying spells, and the basics of how to use sky magic, whether you're near a sky nexus or not. Our family tends to specialise in it."

Liberty looked up at her from the pages, and then nodded at the sword hilt. "And what's that?" she asked.

" _This_ , is Longjian, the dragon sword," Trinity answered. "It was forged in the Tang Dynasty for our family, to one of our ancestors' specifications. I don't know what it does, but I've heard its power is quite great, and it's said that only a Li can figure out how to tap into its power and use it. But be warned, as these things often go, you're not supposed to do bad things with it or it'll kill you."

Of course.

"It's pretty boring looking for a fancy magic sword," Liberty said. It had a plain silver blade, and a simple blue handle wrap.

"The sword _is_ the treasure," Trinity answered. "And I think it can afford to be a little plain."

Liberty released a sigh, closing the spell book and resting her arms on it in her lap. "You knew," she said.

Trinity shrugged, wrapping the sword back up in its velveteen cover and sliding it back into the box. "I knew it was a _possibility_ ," she said. "But I didn't know for sure whether you'd inherited the ability to use magic, any more than I know if Charity did or not. Your grandfather might've known. He gave me both of these, to pass onto you when the time was right. I suspect by the time is right, he means you've started having trouble with your electricity."

Liberty looked down at the book. "You know," she said, "I said something about how nothing really changes, just my own perception of things, how I've always been like this and it's just that now I'm aware of it, but it feels like _everything_ changed, mom."

Trinity released a breath, shuffling around the sword's box and sitting down next to Liberty. She rested her head against her shoulder. "Everything did change," she said. "You're never the same person you were yesterday, and sometimes the difference between yesterday-Liberty and today-Liberty is massive. But you were never _meant_ to stay yesterday-Liberty. Every day, you become a stronger, _wiser_ Liberty, so keep chasing tomorrow-Liberty."

* * *

So, what exactly was she supposed to even _do_ with a sword? Chinese lady-knights weren't really a thing, and besides, the world didn't have any use for those. Unless this fancy sword could turn into a steak knife, or maybe a magic wand, she had very little use for it. It'd be better off as a hairpin, even.

Liberty trudged home with it and the book anyway. The book would be useful. Translating it might be difficult, there were over 50,000 Hanzi in existence, but only around 20,000 in use. You needed to know around 1,500-2,000 to be fluent, but Liberty only knew about 500 of them. _And_ this had been written by ancestors that were _probably_ using characters no one had seen in use for _centuries_.

Well, the universe loved to make her life difficult. Why not?

Liberty didn't really know if she wanted this. If she wanted to be this special right now, when really, she'd rather stuff herself under the bed in her room, and read until she turned thirty. There was pain, and confusion, and she wanted to go find Morgyn and never leave the brunet's side again and also never see Morgyn again for the rest of her life at the same time.

It was pretty hard to figure out what you wanted, when you felt like you wanted two completely opposing things at once.

On the way, she stopped by a flower vendor stall not far from home. There were _bunches_ of flowers, a good selection of which were roses, but the ones that caught her attention were the carnations. There were red ones and gold ones, and for some reason, the combination reminded her of Morgyn.

Then, just about _everything_ reminded her of Morgyn anymore.

Against her better judgement, Liberty bought one red carnation, and one gold, slipped them into the box with the sword, and then went the rest of the way home. When she got herself in the door, she headed to her room, setting the spell book down on her desk, and taking the flowers out of the box before sliding the sword under her bed.

Then, she headed out into the kitchen, getting a vase of water together. Before she set the carnations in it, she snipped the stem ends with the kitchen shears, then popped off the shoots on the sides of the stems. Then, she found a smaller glass, a shot glass technically, and filled it with water, setting the shoots in the water.

It seemed silly, didn't it, to find flowers that reminded her of someone she simultaneously never wanted to let go of, and also wanted to completely forget, and decide to root them and plant them in the yard.

Since she was there, Liberty got another shot glass out of the cabinet, filled it with vodka, and sat down at the bar, watching the bubbles in the flowers' water come up.

It wasn't long before Summer came in, settling down in the seat next to Liberty.

"How's your mom?" Summer asked.

"She's doing okay," Liberty answered. "My cousin's getting married soon, and apparently Charity doesn't want to go, so I got to listen to them argue about it."

"That's no fun," Summer said. "How are you?"

Liberty shrugged, taking a drink of her vodka. She didn't drink a lot, so it was no wonder that a shot glass of it was enough. "I'm flipping wildly and uncontrollably between I hate everything and I need a hug."

"Do you actually want a hug?" Summer asked.

"Presently I'm in I don't know what I want stage," Liberty answered. "But thanks for asking."

"Morgyn came by while you were gone," Summer said. "Him and Caleb."

Liberty looked over at her, then drank some more vodka, and turned back to the flowers. "What for?"

"He wanted to know if you're okay," Summer said. "And also gave us some money to cover the bills, because he was here so long."

Liberty loosed a snort. "Sounds just like him," she said, and drank a little more of her vodka.

"You know," Summer said, "I think maybe you and Morgyn are the only ones that can really understand each other right now. You both went through the same thing. Only you two understand what happened, and maybe only you two understand how you feel."

"I'm fine," Liberty said.

"You're drinking," Summer answered. "I don't think you're fine at all."

 _I'm fine_ , Liberty would've said, yet again, but there was no point in it anyway. Summer didn't believe it, and most of the time, neither did Liberty. She wasn't young and naive enough to believe that if she said it enough, eventually, it'd be true.

But it would be nice.

"I'm not drinking because of any particular reason," she said instead. "I just, felt like it because life is hard."

"Are you lying to me, or you?" Summer asked.

"Yes," Liberty answered.

Summer released a sigh. "It's okay to be upset you know," she said. "And I meant it when I said I'd listen, if you wanted to talk."

Liberty snorted. She'd get over this in a bit. It was all stupid anyway. She knocked back the last of her drink, and stood up. "I don't have time to be upset," she said, and then shuffled down the hallway to her room.

* * *

The only real cure to depression, Liberty thought, was going to the bookstore.

Books, at least, weren't quite as traumatic as life. And people. People were quite terrible. And she was fairly sure there were police tailing her, but that was probably to be expected. There were a few extra policemen around when she wandered into the bookstore, but she didn't pay it any mind.

Instead, she wandered through the aisles of books, her fingers gently running over the spines. The books that were bound and designed like older books, those were the ones that she loved the most. There was something about the scent of old paper and ink that made her awfully happy, but one didn't normally find those scents in newer books.

Darn technology improving things that didn't even really need to be improved.

Still, there were a number of good books that were bound the newer way, so she never passed up new ones either. One of her favourite things to do as a kid used to be going to second-hand bookstores and looking at all of the books they had. Sometimes she found some real gems. A couple times, she found copies of books that were signed by their author.

Sometimes, she caught herself reaching for her phone, intending to message Morgyn. Maybe Summer was right, and being apart from each other right now, when they had a shared trauma like this, wasn't good for either of them. And a big part of her was worried about the dork anyway, so it was a good excuse.

But, then she remembered, she'd deleted Morgyn's number from her phone. She couldn't message Morgyn if she _wanted_ to. There were times when she thanked past-her for having such foresight. There were other times when she cussed past-her up one side and down the other for being such a bleeding _idiot_.

As she passed by the journals and stationery section of the store, she remembered the journal Morgyn had gotten her, the first time they'd gone out together. Liberty had honestly forgotten all about it, but maybe she should dig it out of her closet, and start using it.

Supposedly, keeping a journal helped deal with things like this, with stress, and anxiety, depression, and presumably it'd help deal with events that you just didn't quite know what to do with. In hindsight, she had to wonder if Morgyn had gotten it knowing that her life was eventually going to get hard.

She didn't know what was the worst part of that potential thing, the idea that Morgyn knew this might be coming, or that Morgyn cared enough to try helping even back then, and now here she was, avoiding contact with Morgyn.

Liberty shook her head, taking a breath in, and went up to pay for the books she'd gotten. The cashier bagged them for her, and Liberty took her receipt and headed out the door. It was a cloudy day, like it was thinking a bit too hard about raining, but it was warm and breezy all the same.

Maybe she'd go for a walk later, head to a park or something. It'd probably be a little less depressing than hanging around her room anyway, and sometimes taking a walk helped clear the mind and such. Ah, she wondered if she could remember any of the meditation techniques and tips her grandfather had tried to teach her. She'd remembered the breathing exercises, maybe she'd be able to remember some other ones.

Else, it was worth looking through the spell book, to see if any of her ancestors had similar knowledge to pass on.

Liberty's eyes were up at the sky, and when she turned a corner, she nearly smacked into something. Liberty came to an immediate stop, loosing a loud shriek, and dropping her books.

"I am _so_ sorry," she said, reaching down to pick the bag back up. "I didn't hit you, did I?"

As Liberty looked at the person she'd almost smacked into, somehow, the woman's appearance filled her with dread. She was wearing a hooded shirt, but black hair cascaded out from under it, and she had dark skin and a lot of tattoos.

Some of them were quite cool. The woman smiled, and Liberty thought she saw fangs poke out from her lips.

"You didn't hit us at all," the woman answered. "What is your name, dear?"

"Oh, um, I'm Liberty," she answered. "It's nice to meet you? What's yours?"

"Liberty Lee?" the woman asked.

Something in the back of Liberty's head told her to _run_ , but she had no idea what or why. Instead, she stayed put. "Um, yeah, Lee is right," she said.

The woman giggled. It sounded like she was just a little bit out of touch with reality, being honest about it, and the more time went on, the more Liberty thought maybe she _should_ just go about her business now.

"Um, I was going home," Liberty said. "Have a nice day."

Liberty went around her. The woman turned as she passed by.

"Oh, but our dearest Miss Lee," she said, "we need your _blood_."

Liberty glanced over her shoulder. The woman threw an arm out, firing off a blur of _something_ that felt powerful, and instinctively, Liberty fell to her knees and raised her arms. A sudden _fwoosh_ noise and a crackling sounded, and a slightly-electrical, barely visible barrier blocked whatever the woman had thrown at her.

Liberty, breathing hard and rapidly, decided not to question it and look a gift horse in the mouth. Immediately, she stood up, whirled around, and just _ran_.

* * *

This woman, whoever she was, was very fast. Of course, after she'd attacked, she'd eventually lowered her hood and her eyes were purple. This was a purple-eyed, black haired, dusky-skinned vampire. Liberty was fairly sure she was dealing with _Sarnai_.

The fact she hadn't immediately gotten killed was probably some sort of a miracle. As it was, Liberty just kept running and prayed that she managed to hold her off long enough to figure out what to do, or brilliance struck her, or something.

Liberty occasionally turned around and fired off bolts of lightning, but these weren't very focused ones. She hadn't yet mastered firing off lightning bolts while also being a frantic, panicked mess in the middle of a fight with a psychotic ancient vampire. (She was getting there.)

Once in a while, Sarnai would throw a burst of something Liberty couldn't see, and she'd manage to recreate that sparky barrier. Liberty had no idea what she was doing or how with it, but she wasn't going to complain too much, considering it kept probably saving her butt.

Unfortunately, since her attacks weren't very focused ones, they barely seemed to dent Sarnai at all. That wasn't surprising. It was just unfortunate as hell, because she had no idea what to do. It wasn't like she had an ice cube's chance in hell of overpowering her, and she probably wasn't going to be able to outsmart her, either. To be frank about it, Liberty wasn't terribly smart, and this woman was centuries old.

Liberty was taking a good bit of damage in this, though, and had crashed into a few things already. Her arm felt like it was broken, but it was probably just bruised fairly badly. She needed to figure something out or she was going to die here.

The best thing she could do, probably, would be confusing her enough to escape somehow. Of course, no matter where she went, the woman would likely be able to find her again. First of all, she was a vampire, and running from a vampire seemed like an impossible task, unless Liberty wanted to move to Hangzhou, and not really.

With that thought in mind, though, the next time Liberty scurried out of the way of a psychic bolt, she turned around and threw a lightning bolt. But she wasn't aiming to _hurt_ Sarnai; instead, the bolt crashed into the ground at Sarnai's feet, unleashing a _violently_ bright flash of light along the way.

Sarnai shrieked, and blinked very rapidly. Liberty took the opportunity to run off, and scoot herself under a car. Okay. Okay what now. Well, it'd be nice about now if she still knew Morgyn's number, but she didn't, so, next best thing. Did she still have Cassandra's number, or did she do something stupid and delete _all_ of their numbers?

Liberty pulled her phone out and started to go through it. Then, she went silent, as Sarnai came around the corner, and began looking for her. Liberty shoved the phone back into her pocket, scooting around under the car so that Sarnai wouldn't catch sight of her.

Wait, her arm was bleeding-

The car flipped off of her. Liberty squealed, and then ran after it, scooting around behind it when it'd stopped rolling. And when Sarnai threw another attack at her, Liberty used the car frame as the basis for a barrier. (Whatever kind of barrier this was.)

Sarnai hammered it almost relentlessly, but the thing held decently well. Maybe Liberty should figure out how to make this thing stronger later. You know, if she survived and all that.

But, as was inevitable, it began to weaken, and soon enough, it shattered. The last blast hit the car. It bent around her, trapping her between it and the building behind her. Shit. She made a face, as Sarnai walked towards her.

Then, a sudden wall of fire shot up from the ground between them. Liberty looked over in time to catch sight of a blur of brown and red shoot past, firing more flames off.

"YOU! DON'T! GET! HER! TOO!" Morgyn's voice yelled, throwing a burst of fire with every syllable. Liberty breathed and watched the sage go absolutely ballistic at Sarnai, unleashing streams and bursts of fire so rapidly Liberty could barely keep up with it, and Sarnai was forced onto the defensive.

And she wouldn't admit, even in her head, what a relief it was to hear Morgyn was talking now.

Okay, well, Morgyn had it, and now she should probably figure out how to get out from behind this car. Liberty got her arms up, and started to pull her lower half out from between the car and the wall, but almost immediately unleashed a pained yelp. Her arm was injured. Right.

"Hold still," someone else said, and Liberty looked over to find Caleb eyeing the car. "How did you get here... never mind," he said, wedging himself between the brick and the car frame, bracing his legs against the brick, and shoving the car away.

Liberty loosed a yelp as it let her go, and she hit the asphalt. Caleb reached down and picked her up.

"We need to go somewhere else," Caleb said. "Morgyn makes quite the destructive mess when made angry." Caleb carried her off down the street, a good deal away. Just as they got out of range of it, flames flooded the car.

"I don't know whose car that is," Liberty said, watching it catch on fire over Caleb's shoulder, "but I hope their insurance is good."

Caleb laughed. "Eh, Morgyn'll probably fix it before we go," he said, setting her down on the sidewalk. "Let me see your arm."

Liberty made a face, but she raised it for him to look at. Caleb gently nudged her sleeve out of the way, looking at the bloody mess underneath the fabric. Just as gently, he pressed down on it slightly. Liberty loosed a yelp.

"Well, it's not broken," he said. "But it is fractured, so you'll have to be careful with it for a while."

"That's just what I need," Liberty said. "Why are you two here anyway?"

"Well, turns out Ezio can sense her when she comes here," Caleb said. "And we _think_ Morgyn can because Ezio can and they're connected. Weird twin thing, I don't know how it works. But anyway, Morgyn sensed her. And you can guess how pissed off at her Morgyn is at the moment. You just, happened to be here."

Yeah, that made sense. Though it did little to assuage the feeling that she'd just made herself a burden by being a young, inexperienced spell caster with very little control over her magic. But then, everything managed to make her feel like she wasn't good enough.

Caleb got part of his shirt in his teeth, and ripped it. Liberty blinked a little, but then he wrapped it around her arm. She supposed she _was_ still bleeding a little. Morgyn was still over there unleashing the wrath of god on Sarnai.

And then she was gone and Morgyn unleashed an unearthly shriek of annoyance. Caleb looked bemused. It made Liberty's heart leap into her throat.

"Thank you," she said.

"Not a problem," Caleb answered, tying the bit of shredded shirt. "You'll want to keep it clean, and avoid putting pressure on it. Could also just go see a proper doctor, I am not actually one of those."

"So how'd you know?" Liberty asked.

"I am at least an old vampire," Caleb said, smiling.

"Are you okay?" Morgyn's voice asked, as the brunet got in range of them.

"Yeah," Liberty said, standing up and brushing the dirt off her skirt with her not-fractured arm. Then, she looked around a bit, and then winced when she found her books all the way over there. But at least they hadn't gotten damaged.

Morgyn followed her gaze, finding the bag lying in the street. The brunet went over to it, picked it up, and brought it to her. "I assume it's yours," Morgyn said.

"Yeah," Liberty answered, taking it. "Thank you. You know for that and... saving my butt."

"Your butt's kind of nice, I like it saved," Morgyn said, smirking a little.

Liberty tried not to turn pink. Caleb looked amused.

"Are you mad at me?" Morgyn asked.

"No," Liberty answered. "No, I'm not."

"You haven't really spoken to me in a few days, so I just figured..." Morgyn let that hang.

Liberty sighed. "I've just been busy," she said. Yeah. Busy.

"You're the one that was there, Libs," Morgyn said, quietly. "I don't have to explain anything to you. I don't want to lose that. Or you."

Liberty watched Morgyn's eyes for a moment, and then looked down at the concrete. "I just need some time to think," she said. "Thank you again."

She turned, and headed down the street.

Morgyn moved to follow, but Caleb reached out and caught Morgyn's hand, shaking his head. "You can't make her come back." Even if Morgyn really wanted to.


	19. Careful What You Wish

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, almost was late with this second one and ended up needing to do three chapters instead of just one tomorrow, BUT, I got it done, we’re good. It’s one of my shortest chapters ever, but that is okay too, because this chapter just wraps up a couple loose ends and then we’re good.
> 
> So I said that the thing that L said in narration that Morgyn wasn’t ready to know, was going to be ignored through to the end of TMA. I lied, L dropped it here. Yeah. So life goes. Not really a surprising thing because she did this in the original too.
> 
> Go starcritter, it is literally the only reason Ezio makes it past this chapter I stg. Anyway, um, it’s like three hours past my bed time I’m going to go hallucinate vividly with my eyes closed.
> 
> King Nothing, Metallica

His fingers were tingling. That was the only thing he was really aware of, and he supposed it didn't terribly matter what else there was to be aware of. He was supposed to be unconscious, but suddenly he wasn't anymore, and Ezio couldn't very easily say why.

If he had to guess though, maybe it was the vampire. He could sense her prodding him mentally. She'd put him into a vampire-coma, it'd seem. Well that had to have done wonders for his state of health, but whatever.

If he died, no big loss, right?

Ezio's fingers curled up, balling into a fist, and then relaxed. It was hard to breathe, and his thoughts were like filtering through molasses, but one grey eye opened, then the other.

"About time you woke up," the feminine voice said.

Ezio wasn't sure what that was supposed to mean. Oh, no, now he knew. Wait, maybe he didn't. Did she wake him up a long time ago, or was she just being impatient? Not that it terribly mattered what she wanted, exactly.

Truth be told, he should _probably_ be trying to _stop_ her, not give her whatever it was she wanted, but he supposed that was semantics. At the moment, he wasn't terribly good at much of anything, so most likely, he should just, drop the idea of trying to stop her because Ezio _probably_ couldn't.

Instead, maybe staying alive was a better idea, if at all possible. He knew he wasn't supposed to survive this, whatever _this_ was, but Ezio felt like it was _bigger_ than Sarnai and the stupid All. He should make it past here. Banking on the universe being kind enough to make it _easy_ to make it past here? That would likely be very stupid on his part.

Slowly, Ezio got his arms under him, and sat up. It was difficult to breathe and difficult to move. His heart was weaker than he'd thought it might be, but that was just as well he supposed.

"Move faster," Sarnai said. "We've found the stupid thing."

Found the stupid thing? What thing? Oh, right, never mind, she was after the All. Ezio could barely remember that. How long had he been unconscious, anyway? He remembered doing _something_ to the barrier, shaking it enough that everyone that was here before could escape it, but he didn't recall what he'd done exactly.

His excuse was, he'd been in spectral form when he'd done it. It was easy to forget things that happened in spectral form. The brain didn't like being transparent.

"How did you... you find it?" Ezio asked, sitting up very slowly onto his knees.

"We followed the ley lines," Sarnai answered. "Your friends abandoned you, you know. We are the only ones left here."

"The other woman's gone?" Ezio asked. "I thought she was a friend of yours."

"Our sister," Sarnai said. "From the time before the change."

The time before the what? Never mind. Ezio was not going to be able to solve Sarnai's riddle-language when his head was killing like this. Now that he was sitting up, he had a definite migraine. He could also hear the screeching in his head. If he heard the song, too, it was drowned out by the screeching.

Well, actually, it sounded a little more like a loud _grinding_ noise.

Ezio started to stand, and then almost threw up, instead. He sat back down, resting his head against one of his hands, elbow on his thigh. "You know I can't break the barrier," he said. "You'd be better off trying to do it yourself. You're a _lot_ stronger than I am."

Sarnai snorted. "We're not dumb enough to try it ourselves," she said. "If it fries you, we have backup plans, no big deal."

She had backup plans, huh? Right. She'd figured out Liberty is a person that exists.

Gods, he was tired.

"Don't humans need, hmm, um," Sarnai started, "hmmm... water is it?"

"Water, yes," Ezio answered. "Food, usually."

"How are you stable?" she asked.

"The motes," Ezio replied. Or at least, he _assumed_ it was the motes. Then again, he wasn't terribly stable, either, so Sarnai calling him such was sort of amusing. He just hadn't _died_ , that was all.

He needed to think up a plan, but truth be told, it was hard to think when his heart was this unstable. He had no idea what he was supposed to do in this situation, and he thought he could vaguely hear the All whispering in his head. As if the screech-grinding wasn't enough.

Man, he kind of missed the days when he could hear himself _think_.

Steadily, though, he stood up, and moved to stand over next to Sarnai. She smiled slightly, a toothy little grin that made her fangs notable. She did know how to make herself terrifying, you know, if you were afraid of vampires.

Ezio had a very difficult time being afraid of vampires.

"We will get Morgen along the way," Sarnai said. "She's been very useful to us."

"She isn't even a quarter as powerful as Morgyn," Ezio said.

"She doesn't need to be as strong as Morgyn," Sarnai said. "She just needs to demonstrate a point."

* * *

The damned thing was gigantic, and for whatever reason, the moment Ezio came in range of it, it instantly gave him the most _massive_ migraine he'd ever had in his life. The only thing he could figure was that it was screeching for help in his head or something and he was having a hard time processing it because he was too damned weak to do much of anything.

He had no idea how Sarnai figured he'd be able to break this damned thing's barrier, but whatever made her happy. Maybe he'd have an easier time stopping her if he was dead. At least he wouldn't have a disability in his way anymore.

(It was really unfair that he was at a disadvantage here.)

The All was apparently a very large crystal. Several pieces of crystal had gone in every which direction, but it all grew from a central core. Ezio couldn't quite make out how many layers of stone there were, but he was curious to know.

Shame he wouldn't be able to study it. Oh well.

Strangely though, the feelings he got from it, he thought they were communicating to him through his _necromancy_ , not his bond with the thing through Morgyn. Once again, he found himself wondering what in the fuck it was.

It didn't really matter right this second, though, so he let that thought go. He had bigger problems anyway.

"Go on," Sarnai said, gesturing at it, and looking at Morgen. "Go try and break through its defences."

Morgen looked at it, a little unsure, but she stepped forward, and started magically pushing against the barrier. At first, nothing happened, and then suddenly it unleashed a burst of light, throwing Morgen right off the island they were on, and incinerating her.

Ezio watched her ashes fall off the island. That was the worst way one of Morgyn's clones had ever gone out.

Sarnai frowned, her hands resting on her hips. "Alright then," she said, turning to look at Ezio. "Your turn. We're just curious how long you'll last."

Not very, if he had to take a guess, no thanks to her. Whatever. Ezio breathed out, looking up at the All. Then, he stepped forward, figuring the worst that happened was, he died, and really, that could be a worse outcome. The closer he got to it, the more of a migraine he had, and he thought he could hear screaming in it...

Ezio shook his head, raising his hands, and pushing on the barrier with his magic. It resisted, of course, but it felt like, after a minute or two, the barrier started to give way under the force instead of its resistance staying strong.

That was weird. Ezio frowned, trying to ignore the way his body started to hurt, and then gave one great magical shove against it. The barrier shattered.

And Ezio collapsed.

Sarnai released a pleased sound, immediately scurrying over, and absorbing the All's power. Her eyes began to glow. She turned around, looking at him, lying on the stone, barely breathing.

"You did well," she said. "Better luck with your next life."

And then she turned, and disappeared in a burst of smoke.

Ezio rolled over onto his side, struggling to breathe, his chest screaming in pain, and closed his eyes. He wished he'd gotten to see Drake, Cassandra, and Morgyn just one last time. No one ever got everything they wanted, though.

His consciousness slipped. And he missed it, when the star whale shot out from the sky over to him, debated for a moment, and then draped over his form, creating a protective cocoon around him.

* * *

"Morgen got left behind," L said.

Morgyn wasn't surprised to hear that. While unfortunate, it was also a little understandable, because in the grand scheme of things, Morgen was fairly low priority. Morgyn could make more clones, but they couldn't make more people, of course.

Drake and Cassandra were still working on that potion, or whatever it was Cassandra had wanted to do. Morgyn was trying to think up some other ideas, but nothing really came to mind. It wasn't really every day that Morgyn had to face a psychotic ancient vampire, of course. Thank the gods for that, but that did leave Morgyn in a bit of a pickle when it happened.

Simeon, in the seat between Morgyn and L at the restaurant table, tilted his head. "You're still not sure what to do, are you?" he asked.

Morgyn's head shook. "Not a clue," Morgyn answered.

"You'll come up with something," L said. "You know, you always were the brightest of us that were training under a sage."

Morgyn loosed an amused sound, drinking some of the brunet's root beer float. "If by brightest," Morgyn answered, setting the glass back down, "you mean insanely skilled at thinking up new ways of nearly killing myself."

"I mean it, Morgyn," L said. "Come on now, you know I don't say nice things unless I really mean them."

"Sorry," Morgyn said. "I have to make fun of everything to keep myself from being depressed."

"I noticed," L said.

"Anyway, Caleb suggested that vampiric mist form should be able to side-step the barrier issue," Morgyn said. "So we'll have to tap our vampire friends, but we should be able to get _into_ magic realm, at least. From there it'll be figuring out how to down the stupid psycho vampire, and I still have nothing for that."

"Sunlight," L said. "Everyone knows that, vampires are weakest to sunlight."

Morgyn frowned. "Sarnai is immune to the sun," the brunet said.

"There's no such thing as being immune to the sun," L answered. "Humans aren't even immune to the sun. Its energy disperses in the form of radiation, nothing is immune to radiation, and if you subject someone to enough of it, it can be deadly. Vampires are just more susceptible to it."

Well, that was true enough. Morgyn was kind of learning that in science classes, but the brunet did have to wonder what she was suggesting. "What are you saying then?" Morgyn asked. "The sun in magic realm isn't really a star, and I can't cart the whole ass sun into magic realm in a jar or something."

L laughed. "You silly," she said, "UV rays. They make UV bulbs you can buy on the market now, just make them into arrowheads or something."

Morgyn almost said that was the most ridiculous thing she'd ever said, but then thought about it. That had some merit, for sure.

"Or you could just do the most Morgyn thing," Simeon said, "and set her on fire. Vampires are never immune to fire, either."

Morgyn's head tilted. "Now that one might be more satisfying."

L spent a long moment, watching Morgyn and smiling a bit. Eventually, Morgyn raised an eyebrow.

"What?" the brunet asked.

"Nothing," L answered. "Okay, it's something. I just wanted you to know, that I'm very proud of you. You've come a long way from the scrawny kid from France that couldn't even read."

Morgyn's head ducked.

"I mean it," L said. "Everything will be okay now. You'll figure this out."

"Thanks L," Morgyn said, smiling.

"I'm afraid I won't be able to see it, though," L said.

Morgyn frowned. "What? Why?" the brunet asked. "You're coming with us, aren't you?"

L shook her head. "I'm sorry Morgyn," she said. "I can't go, because I'll just be in the way. Leaving magic realm stripped my magic."

"Why?" Morgyn asked. "That seems a strange thing to do."

"My best guess," Simeon said, "is that the protection spells couldn't figure out how to do their job outside of magic realm. So they stripped her magic on the way out, so she wouldn't be magically detectable."

Morgyn was quiet a moment, and then the brunet's head shook. "No, we'll just put your magic back and-"

"No, Morgyn," L said. "I've been a sage a long time. I've been in magic realm for an even longer time, and I'm sorry, but I want something else out of life now. I want to _have_ a life. You're always leaving magic realm, I'm sure you know what that feels like."

Yes, Morgyn was very familiar with that feeling. But Morgyn wasn't ready to _lose_ her. And yet, in the same breath, the brunet realised it had absolutely nothing to do with Morgyn at all.

"I... also, intend to leave," Simeon said.

"What?!" Morgyn shrieked, sitting up straighter. "I can't deal with you _both_ leaving at once, why are you going?!"

Simeon sighed. "The same reason," he answered. "I met Lana and... I kind of want a family. I want to get married and have kids, and do something besides watch over magic realm."

Morgyn looked devastated, shrinking into the brunet's seat.

"Hey," L said, reaching across the table to take one of Morgyn's hands. "We'll always be here if you need us, just call. And I'll come by sometimes, promise. It's not the end of the world."

Morgyn didn't say anything at first, and then the brunet's hands raised to bury in the brown waves and pull on them slightly. "I don't want to _lose_ you guys," Morgyn said, voice thickening with tears. "But I can't ask you to stay, either."

It was understandable that they wanted to go their separate ways. All sages did, eventually, and someday Morgyn wouldn't be any different. Someday, maybe Morgyn would want a family, too. The All would choose new sages, and that would be that.

Of course, untamed sages never came back once they were gone, or at least they weren't _supposed_ to. Morgyn wasn't sure what the rules were, for an untamed sage to retire.

L stood up, shuffling around the table and hugging Morgyn. Simeon also stood, and hugged them both.

This was Morgyn's family, Morgyn's little weird, slightly broken and unconventional family, and it felt like it was falling apart.

* * *

The keys made a loud clanking noise as they hit the coffee table. Morgyn fell heavily onto the couch, watching the light reflecting off the windows of the adjacent high-rise buildings. There was still pain in there, enough pain Morgyn didn't know how it was possible to think around it, but Morgyn kept moving.

It was at least partially for Ezio's sake, and partially for Caleb's.

Morgyn slid down in the brunet's seat. Caleb came down the stairs, wordlessly shuffling over to the couch and settling down next to Morgyn. Morgyn purposely rearranged, snuggling down against Caleb's side, legs pulling up onto the couch.

The brunet could probably fall asleep like that, but now wasn't time to sleep. Morgyn was still fairly upset that Simeon and L were retiring as sages, but such an event, truly, it was a long time coming. It was amazing they'd stayed sages after Aine's disappearance as long as they had. Morgyn wouldn't be the youngest sage anymore. Most likely, Morgyn would suddenly be the _oldest_ sage.

How weird would _that_ be?

"How are they?" Caleb asked softly.

"They're okay," Morgyn answered. "L seems in a happier mood somehow."

Caleb snorted. "You know she's not left magic realm since Keisha disappeared," he said. "That's a small space to be stuck in for that long. You can't even do it."

Well, he had a point. Morgyn took a breath in. "They're retiring," the brunet said. "As sages, I mean."

Caleb was quiet a moment. "I see," he said. "Isn't this good?"

Morgyn whined. "Not really," Morgyn said. "Everyone's leaving me all at once."

"They'll still come by, you know that," Caleb said, hugging Morgyn. "It'll be just like they're still in magic realm and you aren't, really. Besides, who could ever leave someone as cute as you?"

Morgyn turned a little pink across the nose, and nuzzled down against Caleb even more than the brunet already was.

Caleb made an amused sound, and then sobered a bit, reaching into a pocket. Then, he turned to look at Morgyn.

"I know now is a really bad time," Caleb said. "But I may not have a better opportunity to do this, so... Morgyn, would you marry me?" One hand held up a ring, a rose gold band with a peach-pink coloured round stone in the middle, small colourless gems around it buried in the band's filigree designs.

Morgyn's breath caught in the brunet's throat, and for a long moment, Morgyn didn't say anything.

"Sorry, that was stupid wasn't it-" Caleb decided, moving to put the ring back, but Morgyn reached over and took his hand.

"No," Morgyn said, "I just wasn't... I wasn't expecting that, and, it's _beautiful_."

"I'm glad you like it," Caleb said, smiling. "It's morganite and diamond."

Morgyn laughed. Of course it was morganite.

"It should fit, I never really asked you what your ring size is, so I just kind of guessed, but if you need a ring sizer or something we can get one or I can just get a totally different ring if you'd rather-"

Morgyn smiled softly. "Caleb, try it," Morgyn said, holding out the brunet's left hand.

Caleb quit rambling, answering Morgyn's smile with one of his own, and slipped the ring onto Morgyn's ring finger. It fit like a glove.

Morgyn admired it for a moment, turning the brunet's hand around a little to watch the light dance around in the morganite. It really was beautiful.

"Yes," Morgyn said, and then looked up at Caleb. "I'll marry you."

Caleb's eyes lit up. He moved, intending to hug the brunet, but Morgyn suddenly loosed a pained squeal, and Morgyn hit the floor.

"Oh shit," Caleb breathed. "Morgyn, what happened?"

"I don't know-" Morgyn answered, but then Morgyn's magic suddenly sparked and unleashed on its own; sparks of energy and bursts of flame loosed. Caleb frowned, staying out of range of it.

"Your magic's-" Lost its nonexistent mind, it looked like.

"Magic died," Morgyn said. "Sarnai... just got the All." Which meant Morgyn's connection to the All had just severed, and apparently that meant expelling some of Morgyn's magic. Maybe the bond with it raised your magic cap or something.

Was that even a thing? Whatever.

Caleb wordlessly reached over, and pulled Morgyn into his lap.

"What are you _doing_?" Morgyn hissed.

"Holding you," Caleb answered. "You're hurting. That's all I need to know."

Morgyn released a breath, falling against his arm, twitching and sparking uncontrollably. Well, this was part of why Morgyn said yes, wasn't it?

* * *

She was still somewhat weak and occasionally a little uncoordinated. But all things considered, she'd survived an attack from _Sarnai_ , and living to tell that particular tale sounded like it should give her some bad ass points.

The cat seemed to know Straud manor better than anyone did. Lilith didn't remember the place having so many secret passageways, trick doors, and hidden compartments in everything. Vlad seemed to be more paranoid than she'd imagined he was, but somehow that didn't surprise her either.

As she sat there, fiddling with a tablet, she felt something shift. Inna, not far, sensed it too.

" _Damn_ it," she said.

Lilith raised her eyebrows.

"What?" Inna asked. "You're still recovering and I probably can't kill her."

Lilith looked amused, but she set the tablet down on the floor and stood up. "I can take her just fine," Lilith answered, shuffling to the door.

Inna looked concerned, but she stood up and followed.

Lilith half fell against the door frame, as she got out onto the small porch. Miss Hell narrowed her eyes, and then smirked.

"I think Elle and Inna would have better luck taking me down than you would," Miss Hell said.

Lilith snorted. "Please," she said. "I could take you out in hibernation."

"That cockiness is going to get you killed someday," Miss Hell said.

"Yeah," Lilith answered. "But that day's not today."

Miss Hell growled in irritation, and lunged. Lilith smirked and did too.

Inna stood on the porch, watching the two trade blows. They were almost evenly matched; Lilith seemed a little slower than she usually was, but given she was still recovering a little, it wasn't surprising.

Miss Hell slammed into the fence around the cemetery again, but then Lilith hit a tree. Missy aimed a punch, Lilith ducked and hit her with a leg sweep, and then blew a psychic explosion at her feet. One would get a hit, then the other got one, then the other... it was almost dizzying.

And just when Inna was afraid of continuing to watch, Caleb and Drake appeared at her side in a burst of black mist.

"Oh thank god," she said. "You can talk Lilith out of this!"

Caleb watched the two fight for a moment. Drake did, too. Then, Drake shook his head.

"She's winning," he said.

Caleb's lips curled slightly. "Damn it, we don't have time for this, magic just died a few hours ago," he said.

"Well, if you want to stop them," Inna said, "you go right on ahead."

Caleb snorted. Right. But he waited, instead. It didn't take long before Lilith slammed Miss Hell into the stone, and then turned and went to fire a psychic bolt in her face. Caleb shot over, catching Lilith's arm and redirecting the bolt.

"Caleb what are you _doing_!" Lilith said.

"Oh!" Miss Hell squeaked, "you saved me!"

"No I didn't," Caleb answered, turning to look at her. "Do you have any idea what you've stolen from me over the years?"

"What?" Miss Hell asked. "Oh come on, I was making you _stronger_. Emotions are a weakness, Caleb, something you could've learnt to shed a long time ago."

"Well forgive me for not wanting to end up a monster like you," he snarled back. "When I needed you, you just hurt me. You weren't making me stronger, you were _destroying_ me, and Lilith and Morgyn are the only reasons you didn't manage it. Fuck your emotions are weaknesses bullshit, and for that matter, _fuck you_!"

Lilith looked surprised.

Miss Hell did too, for that matter. "Caleb, you don't mean that," she whispered. "I was helping you, yes, so that nothing could ever hurt you again."

"No," Caleb said, closing his eyes for a moment. "You were making it so that nothing would ever stop hurting again. Because you do, of course, love to see other people suffer. I won't buy into that shit anymore. I learnt without you. I grew without you, and beyond you. I have people that love me, and need me, and I don't need you anymore. I guess I never did, though."

She suddenly looked worried. Glancing between Caleb and Lilith, Miss Hell then started scooting backwards. Caleb stood up, pinning down one of her arms under his boot. She loosed a surprised noise.

"Hope you make better choices next time," Caleb said, and then he dropped a bottle of something onto her. Instantly, a burst of light loosed, and Caleb had to let go and back into Lilith, pulling her away from it. Miss Hell loosed a loud shriek, and then... she was gone, only ashes remaining where she'd been.

Caleb slowly let go of Lilith, whom he'd been shielding from it. "Welp," he said, looking at Drake. "Looks like it works."

Two birds with one stone; Miss Hell was gone, and they also had the weapon that would take Sarnai down.


	20. Never Cared For What They Do

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter almost has no purpose for its existence and it is a tragic thing indeed. But there were some important things in here. I guess. Probably. Idk maybe I only say that to make myself feel better about wasting a bunch of hours writing this thing. It is also one of the shortest chapters in here.
> 
> I think maybe I’m just tired of consistently writing 5-6k a pop I mean that’s exhausting. Also incidentally FFX reference. I had no other way to word it idk my bad.
> 
> Finale is next. But currently… I need a nap. It just spent forever threatening to drop a tornado on our heads and the anxiety spike made me tired and destroyed my focus.
> 
> Nothing Else Matters; Metallica

Now that they knew the potion worked as it was intended to work, all that was left was making enough of it to fill several bottles and arm everyone that wasn't a vampire with one. There weren't a lot of them that _weren't_ vampires going on this little excursion no thanks to needing to get past the barrier, if the damned barrier even still functioned with magic dead, but the more of them that had one, the better.

Unfortunately, the vampires were also susceptible to getting killed by it, and Sarnai had a habit of throwing people into things. Maybe not risking the bottle shattering along the way and killing a vampire they didn't _want_ to kill was good.

It felt like they'd taken _forever_ to make any progress at all, and Cassandra would be lying if she said she wasn't jittery to some extent. Drake was beside her, helping make enough of the sunlight potion that they'd be in a decent position to win this.

Cassandra just hoped they weren't too late. But she hadn't seen Ezio wandering around as a ghost, either, so she was going to let herself believe they weren't until she saw otherwise. It was better to try and fail than to give up, she figured.

At the other cauldron, something crashed into the side of it, and Drake cursed under his breath. Cassandra glanced over at him. He'd cut his hand. Cassandra breathed out, setting her work to the side for a moment, and shuffling over to him.

"It'll heal," he said.

"It's not that I'm worried about," Cassandra answered. "You're nervous."

Drake didn't answer, just made a face.

Yeah, she figured. Instead of saying anything else, she just reached over and took the hand that _wasn't_ injured, and rested her forehead against his shoulder. "Everything will be okay," she said softly.

Drake was quiet a moment, breathing instead. "What if it's not?" he asked.

Cassandra shook her head, looking up at him. "Don't think like that," she said. "You can't think in what ifs and maybes and could be. We do this. We get Ezio home. There is nothing else. Nothing else matters right now."

Drake looked over at her, then took a breath in, another. "You're right," he said. "It's just hard not to let the thoughts creep in."

"I know," Cassandra said. "I have them too. But my love for Ezio and my want to see him home is more important than whatever my demons think they have to say. I'm sure yours is, too." She'd be surprised if it wasn't, really. That was why he cared, of course, why it was so easy to make him worry about this, and that, too, she understood.

But she'd said it once before and she meant it even more now than she had then. There was no choice. If it was either figuring this out and doing it, or losing him forever, the only option was clear.

Cassandra rested her head against Drake's shoulder again. He focused on breathing, and then reached up and patted her hair. "I'm okay now," he said.

"Good," she answered, and then went back to her own work. They had potions to brew and psychotic vampires to burn up.

Ezio smiled, watching them from the astral plane. He didn't know if he was alive or not; maybe he was already dead, and his astral form just hadn't gotten the memo. Or maybe he was a ghost. He didn't know. But for once, he couldn't feel anything, and it was a relief.

They'd be okay without him. Morgyn... maybe not as much.

To one side, Makana came to stand beside him. Ezio looked over at her. "Time to go?" he asked.

"Not quite," Makana answered.

Ezio looked over at Cassandra. "Can she see you?" he asked.

"Not right now, no," Makana said. "But when I let her, she can see me very clearly. She is a very strong necromancer. Not stronger than you, though."

Ezio snorted. "That's surprising."

"Come on," Makana said. "I want you to see something."

Makana turned around and walked away, gesturing for him to follow. Ezio looked back at Drake and Cassandra, and then shuffled between them, resting either hand against theirs. They both seemed to feel it, though Cassandra noticed it first.

"I love you," he said. Neither of them would hear it, but it was nice to say all the same. Maybe he should say it more, if he lived through this. "And thank you."

Ezio let go, and followed Makana.

* * *

She led him back to magic realm. The screeching was still awfully loud, and Ezio knew why, but found it interesting all the same. He could feel the link to his body still active; yeah, he was alive, somehow. Ezio found that rather interesting, but there was a flicker of light and something else around him. Like little sparkles.

Oh, this was the star whale. It turned out he could see it quite well, in astral form. Its arms were feathered, large wings, little talons poking out of one of the joints, presumably that it could walk with its forelegs. The back legs were bulky and rounded, with paws, almost, on the ends. Looking at them, he thought they could pull straight enough to be aerodynamically sound. It did have a beak, and a somewhat oblong body.

Mostly, it looked white, but there were streaks of maybe purple in there. Its eyes opened, looking up at him. They were red.

"It's nice to finally be able to _see_ you," Ezio said. Though, he had to admit, it didn't look anything _like_ a whale. Of course, he had no idea what _else_ to call it, either.

The starry creature raised its head, nuzzling against Ezio's cheek.

"Reach for it," Makana said, "with your necromancy."

Ezio looked over at her like she'd lost her mind. "That's not a good idea," he said. "That can get very dangerous very quickly, and I don't think I want to push my luck that way."

"You're in _astral_ form," Makana said. "Dangerous is the least of your concerns right now. And besides, you were given necromancy for a reason. You might as well use it when it'll be useful."

Ezio frowned slightly, but he figured she was probably correct in that statement. Okay, alright, fine. Ezio tilted his head, and then reached out, resting his hands against the creature's snout. It moved slightly, resting its forehead against Ezio's, and then his hands glowed an eerie green colour.

There were voices. He had no idea who was who, or what they were saying at first, because the sound of their voices were distorted. Ezio focused a little harder, _reached_ for the memories, the star creature's memories of something.

_I told you not to do that! Now you've gone and killed us all!_

_How was I supposed to know what that was going to do!_

_The vanir told us what this stuff would do, but your greed just couldn't be sated, could it! We cannot **control** it!_

_The vanir can. Ask them for help if you're so determined we can't do it alone._

_As if the vanir will want to stick their snouts in this after what we did to them. You've gone and cut through the branch we're dangling on!_

_We don't have time for this! Contain it!_

_We can't **contain** it!_

_Figure out a way because if we don't do something it's going to destroy everything!_

_Gytha no!_

_Don't just stand there, help her!_

_It's blotting out the sun! Ragnarok has come!_

_Cast faster!_

A strange ringing echoed in Ezio's head. He wouldn't say his ears; for technically, he had none. And yet, for all that he had no ears, and no eyes, either, tears slipped down his cheeks anyway, as a flood of hopelessness washed over him. He backed away, grey eyes meeting the star creature's red ones, and all he saw in them was pain and regret.

_Please, hear me. Save us. Forever and always, give us peace._

The voices faded. The ringing in his head died off, and to the side of him, the All unleashed a sudden spark of light. Ezio jumped slightly, and then closed his eyes as the light became too bright to stand.

* * *

It'd taken some work to find her. Given Morgyn didn't really know her very well to begin with, the sage wasn't sure where to start, but Lilith had mentioned there was a spell caster in Forgotten Hollow, for whatever reason. Morgyn figured, if there was a spell caster they didn't know in Forgotten Hollow, then most likely, it was Lakshmi Nirun.

Caleb wanted to come, of course, but Morgyn had him stay behind. Morgyn didn't want Lakshmi freaking out because there were _two_ of them, and ending up face to face with Morgyn fucking Ember would probably be terrifying enough.

Morgyn's heels clicked against the asphalt, the light catching the ring on the brunet's finger and throwing sparkles of pink. Morgyn had to admit, it sure was sparkly, and the brunet loved it, even if it _was_ a little distracting. The sage went up the stairs, tapping on the door and waiting.

The door opened a moment or two later, and a dusky skinned young woman, with long brown hair and grey eyes blinked in surprise. "Oh man," she said. "I figured you'd come eventually, but oh man."

"I just want to talk," Morgyn said. "Please."

Lakshmi frowned, crossing her arms, but she didn't close the door. "What about?" she asked.

"I want my brother back," Morgyn said. "You want your sister back. I like to think we're on the same side here."

She snorted, shaking her head. "I don't think we are," she answered.

"And why's that?" Morgyn asked. The brunet was really just curious.

"I haven't been Sarnai's sister in a long time," Lakshmi said. "She doesn't see me that way, not anymore. Maybe once I could've helped you, but I don't think I can anymore. I don't know what that monster is, but it's not really my sister."

Morgyn released a breath. "Your sister's in there somewhere," the brunet said. "She didn't just suddenly turn into someone else."

Lakshmi turned down to look at the porch floor, and released a sigh. "I guess," she said. "I still don't know if I can even help you at all."

Morgyn smiled. "Yeah, I don't either," the sage answered. "But I think maybe you're going to have to try, because if we don't do something, magic is going to stay dead forever. And who knows what that'll do to the balance of things."

The woman snorted. "Sometimes," she said, "I think it'd be best if humans couldn't use magic anymore, anyway."

Morgyn smiled again. "Well, you're probably right," Morgyn answered. "But if magic stays dead, then I have to figure out what to do with my life and I'm not ready for a midlife crisis just yet."

Lakshmi gave Morgyn something of a look. "I should think you're a ways beyond _midlife_ crisis stage," she said.

"A little," Morgyn said. "Anyway, look, the plan is, if we can't get her to separate from the All without killing her, then we _are_ going to kill her. I just thought maybe you'd want the chance to save her first, if you can, because if our roles were reversed and _Ezio_ was the crazy one, I'd want that chance myself."

Lakshmi went quiet, thinking for a long moment. "She will come back," Lakshmi said. "She always does."

Morgyn wondered what that meant, but then figured the brunet already _knew_ what that meant. "She resurrects?" Morgyn asked.

Lakshmi shrugged. "I think so," she said. "So she will come back eventually. To get her to stay gone, you have to kill Ra."

Morgyn frowned. "We haven't run across a Ra," the brunet said.

"You will eventually," Lakshmi answered. "The two never go anywhere or do anything by themselves. Ra tells her how to think. Sarnai does his dirty work. This entire situation is probably Ra's idea and not hers."

Morgyn looked a little unsure. "I'd rather not have to kill her," Morgyn said.

Lakshmi shook her head. "I will try," she said, "but if I fail, and Sarnai won't listen to me, you kill her. Please. Set my sister free."

* * *

It turned out L was onto something. Drake and Cassandra had made a sunlight potion, and Morgyn was messing with creating bullets that were essentially just UV bulbs that could be fired out of a gun barrel. Not that Morgyn was entirely sure it would prove necessary, nor did the brunet know if it would be _functional_ , but it was a secondary backup solution in case everyone ran out of sunlight potions.

Morgyn tried not to think about what would happen, what it'd mean, if they failed in this and didn't manage to stop Sarnai. The brunet was going to hope that Sarnai didn't manage to control the All well enough to be truly unstoppable; something told Morgyn if Sarnai figured out how to work it, she was going to be damned near _impossible_ to stop.

But the only thing these bulbs emitted were UV light. It wasn't distorted and filtered by the atmosphere. It wasn't partially indirect because of the planet's axial tilt. And Morgyn was hoping that if the brunet committed these bulb-bullets straight to Sarnai's heart, it'd take her out in short order. But maybe just about anything would die if shot with something in the heart. One could hope.

While Morgyn worked, someone walked up behind the brunet. Morgyn could smell Caleb's shampoo, though, so the only thing Morgyn did was pull the batteries out of the one UV bulb that was lit. Morgyn would _like_ to know if these bullets were going to work, but _not_ by injuring the brunet's boyfriend.

Wait, they were engaged now, weren't they? Ohh... that made Caleb Morgyn's _fiance_. That was such a nice thing to think, wow.

Caleb shuffled up, gently wrapping his arms around Morgyn's waist, and resting his chin on one shoulder. "What are you doing?" Caleb asked.

"Rigging battery-powered UV bullets," Morgyn said, twisting some wires together. "The idea is if you shoot a vampire in the heart with one of these, it should instantly kill. Either because it's UV radiation, or because you shot them in the heart, whichever one."

Caleb made a noise. "You know Sarnai's immune to UV light," Caleb said. "I'm not sure how successful this one will be."

Morgyn shrugged, with the shoulder Caleb _wasn't_ leaning on. "She might be," Morgyn said, "but I don't think anyone's ever really _immune_ to UV rays, just resistant. The idea is with exposure to enough of it, it should overload her resistance and kill her anyway."

Caleb tilted his head. "Well, I hope it works that way then," he said.

"It's just a backup," Morgyn said, twisting the last bunch of wires together and setting the bullet shell down. Now the brunet just had to get a little UV bulb in it, and connect everything up. "Just in case the sunlight potions run out."

"It is a good thing to have a backup plan, you're right," Caleb said.

Morgyn smiled, then turned and leaned slightly to one side, and press the brunet's lips against Caleb's. Caleb returned the kiss, then straightened up. Morgyn moved around to face him, and for a long moment, they watched each other in silence.

Eventually, Morgyn moved forward and hugged him. Caleb gently rested his hands against Morgyn's back.

"Ezio will be okay," Caleb said.

"I want to believe that," Morgyn answered. "But I can't. No matter how hard I try. He hasn't had his medication in almost a month, I don't know that he's going to stay okay enough for long enough to stabilise him. I can't save him just to _lose_ him."

"Hey, don't think like that," Caleb replied, reaching down and taking Morgyn's hands, kissing them both. "You're not going to lose him. Ezio's the strongest person I know, and one of the smartest incidentally. He knows what he's doing out there."

"And I might remind you," Morgyn said, "he's still an Ember. And Embers are reckless losers with no self-preservation instinct."

Caleb blinked. "Okay yeah I can't argue with that I guess," he said, shrugging. "Still, beating yourself up over it isn't going to get anything done, and right now we need to _do_ things, yeah?"

Yeah, Morgyn knew that. "You seem weirdly optimistic anymore," Morgyn said, head tilting at him.

Caleb shrugged. "Life got better," he said. "And it's about to get even more so, right? Cause we're gonna go to magic realm, we're gonna throw potions, we're gonna murder Sarnai and free the All, and then we're gonna save Ezio. And finish school terms, and I don't know, maybe go on a bunch of dates and then start wedding planning. Or never wedding plan. That's fine too."

"Of course we're going to do wedding plans," Morgyn said, head shaking. "But maybe after school, you're right."

"Okay," Caleb said. "I just, wasn't sure if you wanted to wait a few years or something, you know."

Morgyn snorted. "I should think waiting over a hundred years is enough waiting, wouldn't you?"

Caleb raised an eyebrow. "Oh," he said. "Right, yes. I try not to think about it."

Morgyn smiled, shifting up to kiss his cheek. "Stay dorky," Morgyn said.

* * *

There was something cold and solid under his cheek. And when Ezio started to move again, several of his joints cracked, but that was to be expected. Truth be told, he had no idea how long he'd been down for, anyway. He understood now, what the ghosts were talking about. The star creature _was_ , in fact, a ghost, but Ezio hadn't the faintest idea how it'd ended up in the form it was in, nor how to get it back out of it.

He supposed that was a semantic that didn't really matter right now. He was alive, it'd seem, at least for now. He should be glad about that he figured, but doing things was a lot easier when he was in astral form. Ezio _almost_ purposely ejected his astral body from his physical one, but he was having a little difficulty using magic of any kind right now.

No wonder, of course. Sarnai had absorbed the All. But something Ezio had done to it made it reignite. What had he done, exactly? Maybe his bond with it was still active, but that didn't entirely make sense either. If the sages lost theirs, then Ezio should've lost his, right? Given his went _through_ one of the sages.

Ugh, okay, he wasn't really up for thinking about anything too hard right now, being fully honest.

Instead, Ezio curled up where he was on the stone, and then opened his eyes. Everything was a little hazy. Ah, he could see the star creature now, in his actual body, where he couldn't before. It'd draped over him, he remembered noticing that in astral form.

What was it doing, he wondered? He didn't know, but whatever it was doing, it was making it a bit easier to breathe and think. Ezio wasn't terribly attached to thinking right this second, but it would be a useful thing all the same. He needed to come up with a plan of some kind, to figure out what to do with this mess.

Someone had to stop Sarnai.

"Where'd Sarnai go?" Ezio asked, looking up at the haze that was the star creature. He should figure out what else to call it, because calling it how he was doing already seemed a bit rude to the poor thing, and it'd proven very helpful so far. Ezio should be nice to it.

The star creature didn't really respond, just looked down at him, and Ezio was overwhelmed by the impression that he should stay still. Well, the star creature was _probably_ correct in that, but Ezio was an Ember, and Embers were fuelled by yolo.

"Someone has to fix this," Ezio said. And then he shifted around, getting his arms under him, and standing up.

The star creature partially separated from him, bouncing around frantically and mentally nudging him with 'hold still' impressions.

Of course, Ezio didn't listen. And he tried to stand up, anyway, only for his knees to buckle and he hit the ground all over again. The star creature seemed greatly unamused, wrapping around him again and resting its head against his shoulder.

Ezio was not amused by this turn of events. He raised his head, and then dropped it a few times, gently onto the stone, trying to think. Normally, about here, he'd wonder if and when Morgyn and them were going to make it, but it was quite clear that was unlikely to be anytime soon, and in the interim, Sarnai held onto the All longer.

The star creature rumbled slightly, and then let out a soft keening sound.

Ezio tilted his head. It sounded familiar, somehow. Then, he wondered if _this_ was the thing that was singing. "Are... you the thing that sings to me?" Ezio asked.

The star creature shook its head.

"Then what is?" he asked.

The star creature looked up at the All, standing silent watch over him. Since that spark, it hadn't done anything else notable, apparent by the fact Ezio had forgotten it was there. He still wondered about the All. The stories about it had started to fail to add up, somehow, and Ezio wasn't sure how to take that fact. What _was_ it? And how was it a threat to Morgyn?

And what the fuck was he supposed to _do_ about it when there was a psychotic vampire that'd _absorbed_ the damned thing?

One issue at a time, he imagined.

"If you don't want me moving," Ezio said, "then what do you propose we do, exactly?"

The star creature tilted its head, and then laid back down on Ezio's shoulder. No real answer seemed terribly forthcoming, and Ezio released an impatient huff, dropping his head against the cobblestone again.

And then, he got the distinct feeling he was meant to be waiting for something. Ezio was perplexed again. Unless, he was waiting for Morgyn. Given his current state, it'd be smarter not to take Sarnai on by himself, and with this enforced waiting period, he imagined he could recover a good deal more of his energy before he had to expend it fighting _her_.

Okay then. Waiting it was.


	21. Berserkir

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we are now done with TMA’s rewrite. I am a little happier with it, not like immensely, I still think there are some parts of it that came out kind of weird, some other parts that are like, honestly they were kind of rushed or they took up more time than they should’ve. We had a few random twists even I wasn’t expecting, but overall, yeah this one’s much better than the original to me. Not hard, given I was winging the original until mid-December or so.
> 
> Um, so now I will be taking a break, probably about a week or so, I need to adjust the outlines I have for CMH and expand them into scene-by-scene outlines so I can get working on CMH. I also need to probably do some schoolwork because it’s September and I’ve done absolutely nothing on it. Hahaha.
> 
> This one’s got a tiny emotion tax. Also sort of sad Morgyn didn’t get to use the UV bullets. Maybe next time the disaster cluster go vampire hunting.
> 
> Berserkir; Ezio’s Family Valhalla Remix; Samuel Kim  
> This is Ezio’s theme song. Or one of them, he has a few. I love my children equally, really.
> 
> Me: I'm gonna backdate it.  
> Also me: Doesn't backdate it because I'm lazy.

This whole thing was a mess, and there was no denying that. Morgyn kept fidgeting with just about anything in range of the brunet, had been jittering off and on since they'd all met up.

Today was the day. The sun was barely up. Morgyn had probably way too many cups of coffee during preparation stage, but they were all together, the spell casters all paired off with a vampire that could use mist form, and they were invading magic realm today.

It felt very weird to be thinking that they were _invading_ magic realm. Morgyn had lived in magic realm for most of the brunet's life, and Morgyn was a sage now. If anyone belonged in magic realm, it was Morgyn. The brunet decided not to think about it too hard, before Morgyn started having an existential crisis.

L had given Morgyn a necklace. Simeon wasn't coming either, and they'd enchanted something, to send Morgyn off with what protections they could. Neither could say for certain what the enchantments would do, but Morgyn had a feeling the brunet would find out.

Everything was going to be okay. Everyone kept saying that. Morgyn wasn't sure anymore who they were trying to convince. Morgyn wasn't.

"Nobody has any magic," Lakshmi said. "So how are we intending to get her separated from the All without killing her?"

Lilith shrugged. "Drake and I are going to try and tag-team her," she said. "Hopefully we can figure out a way of undoing their fusion with a combination of our psychic abilities, but we've never tried before."

For obvious reasons, really. This was the first time they'd ever had someone manage to _fuse_ with the damned thing. If it wasn't so _important_ , Morgyn would be considering destroying the All by now, that it was never a temptation for anyone else ever again. Magic realm was supposed to be a safe haven, not an incidental battleground.

One couldn't call what they had right now terribly _peaceful_. But Morgyn supposed, that was what happened when you had a gigantic weapon just hanging around in your secret dimension somewhere.

Caleb reached down wordlessly, taking one of Morgyn's hands. Turned out that hand had been relentlessly pulling against the brunet's sweater. Morgyn looked down at their hands for a moment, and then up at Caleb. He smiled.

Morgyn just felt more nervous, though the sage smiled back, and then turned towards the floor. A gun rested at Morgyn's hip, a belt of UV bullets just below it. None of them were turned on; Morgyn had made the bullets' UV light turn on by twisting the end of the bullet and causing the wires inside to come into contact with the battery wires in the base.

It was relatively genius, if Morgyn said so. It seemed more like something Ezio would've come up with than Morgyn. The brunet had to wonder if he'd incidentally helped. Astral projection _was_ Ezio's _thing_.

"The way we figure," Drake said, "the All should want loose of her as much as we want it loose."

Unconsciously, Morgyn squeezed Caleb's hand, one leg shaking. The _nerves_ honestly, but then Morgyn was every bit a go-getter and had been ready for this for weeks. At least, so Morgyn thought. The downtime between there and here, it was probably kind of important.

"So we could just be committing grandiose suicide?" Lakshmi asked.

Morgyn snorted. Nobody else said anything.

"Sounds fun at least," Lakshmi said.

"Everyone remember the plan?" Lilith asked.

Trust her to take the lead in this excursion. Trust her to take the lead, really. Morgyn shouldn't have been surprised, and wasn't for the most part. In a sense, it was nice that she'd done the most predictable thing for her to do, because Morgyn wasn't interested in leading, not this one, not this time.

Morgyn just wanted Ezio back. Frankly, if magic realm went down along the way, the sage may or may not even give a damn.

Magic realm could be replaced, honestly. They could come up with something else, practise somewhere else. Things weren't as dangerous as they used to be. But people couldn't just be replaced the same way.

"Get in, separate her from the All, or kill her, whichever one, get Ezio, and get out," Elle said.

Inna giggled, bouncing slightly. "I've never gotten to _do_ one of these before!"

"Don't get too excited," Elle said, smirking at her. "It's not all that great."

"Beats sitting around at home waiting for you to come back," Inna said, frowning. "Besides, I've always wanted to defeat an ancient vampire."

Cassandra snorted. "It'll be like a _Final Fantasy_ boss battle," she said.

"A what?" half of those present asked.

Cassandra looked amused. "Never mind," she answered, smirking.

Morgyn smiled slightly, turning around to face Caleb. "Just so you know," Morgyn said quietly, in a tone meant only for him, "I love you."

Caleb released a breath, taking Morgyn's other hand in his. "Don't say that," he said. "It almost sounds like goodbye, and we're all going to be just fine. Sarnai will go down, and we'll get Ezio home."

"You keep saying that," Morgyn answered, "but the reality is we may fail miserably at this. And even if we succeed, a few of us may be lost along the way. It is what it is."

"Hey," Caleb said, "I'm making it, and so are you. And so is Ezio. Don't give up before the battle's even begun. We've gotta make it through this, and we're not going to do that by being pessimistic."

Yeah, but Morgyn was better at being pessimistic. It came more naturally, too.

Instead of saying anything, Morgyn just reached up, hands resting against Caleb's jaw, and tapped the brunet's forehead against Caleb's. Sometimes, just being close to him, it was enough to chase away some of Morgyn's demons, clear the head a little, make it notably easier to think.

"But so you know," Caleb said, moving slightly to kiss Morgyn's forehead, "I love you, too."

Yeah. Morgyn knew that. The brunet had never really questioned that before save for at the surface level, and maybe their bond with each other was stronger for it now. Morgyn just hoped Caleb was right, and this thing turned out okay.

* * *

It took several tries before they finally broke through and into magic realm. It turned out, the pathways that led into it were magical, too, and when the All's magic died, those pathways closed. Through _great_ effort, Lilith managed to forge a new pathway that led the right way, but it took a good deal of energy to do it on her part.

Unsurprising, all things considered.

Morgyn and Caleb hit the ground first, rolling across the grass for a short period before coming to a stop. Caleb shielded the brunet the entire way. Lilith hit the ground after them, stumbling slightly and then flipping herself around and regaining her balance.

Lilith was _so cool_. Morgyn wanted to be her when the sage grew up.

Morgyn sat up, Caleb standing up and holding a hand down to help Morgyn up. As the sage got up, Lilith went sensing around for Sarnai, and the others came in; Drake and Cassandra had a slightly cleaner landing than everyone else. Lakshmi, Elle, and Inna crashed the same way Morgyn, Lilith, and Caleb had. Drake and Cassandra stumbled just slightly, and then found their balance.

Maybe it was because there were only two of them, rather than three like the other two groups.

Cassandra pulled a sunlight potion off her hip, handing one to Morgyn, then one to Lakshmi. Of the eight of them, only three were spell casters; the others were vampires and susceptible to the potions' effects. Strange how so many of them were vampires. Then again, Morgyn and Ezio made a lot of vampire friends.

Morgyn slid a UV bullet off the belt, replacing it with the potion. Then, Morgyn turned around, twisted the bullet on, and shoved it into the gun.

"Sarnai is that way," Lilith said, pointing somewhere beyond headquarters.

Morgyn straightened up, looking around. It was kind of depressing, to see the state of magic realm as it was now. Meteors fell from the sky, crashing randomly into the islands. More bits and pieces of them had broken off, Morgyn could tell. The sky wasn't alive with light anymore, and Caster's Alley looked like it'd been burning for hours.

And somewhere, there was a loud, grating grinding noise.

"Where's Ezio?" Morgyn asked, turning to look at Lilith.

She went quiet, sensing around. Drake did, too, Cassandra reaching over and taking his hand, looking apprehensive. Somewhere in here was Ezio, Morgyn knew it. They knew it. Truth be told, Morgyn was after Ezio, first, and Sarnai second.

"Honestly," Lilith said, "I can't sense him at all. Can you?" Lilith looked over at Drake.

Drake was quiet a moment, and then his icy eyes opened, and his head shook. "He's alive," he said. "That's about all I can figure out. I can't sense him very well, not enough to pinpoint him. But it feels like something stronger than him is blocking out his signature, so maybe he's wherever Sarnai is."

That stood to reason. Sarnai was the only _something stronger_ than Ezio that was around, unless the All was doing it, but that implied Sarnai either hadn't fully absorbed it to begin with, or had given some of it back. Either one of those was theoretically possible, but Morgyn was going with, it was likely to be Sarnai blocking his signature out.

Morgyn took a breath in, and then turned on one heel and headed to where Lilith said Sarnai was.

"Elle, Inna, backup," Lilith said, "Drake, with me, Caleb, make sure Morgyn doesn't die, Cassandra, take the rear, don't directly engage her if you can help it, and you... I don't know just try not to die I guess."

Lakshmi laughed. "I'm a fairly skilled caster," she said. "I'll be okay."

"Yes," Lilith said, "I'm quite sure you are. But you're also a sitting duck right now like every other caster."

Lakshmi looked as if that hadn't crossed her mind whatsoever. Caleb made an amused sound, and then scurried after Morgyn. Drake followed Lilith, Elle and Inna falling behind. Cassandra followed them too, but at a notable distance back.

As Morgyn got closer, the brunet could hear Sarnai talking to herself, and instead redirected to following the sound of her voice. It'd seem she was having some notable trouble controlling the All's energies, but to her credit, she _was_ containing it decently well.

Morgyn had eventually presumed she'd do decently at containing it. Given her age, and that she was a vampire and not a spell caster, which were harder to send into overload in the first place, it made sense.

She seemed to be very distracted, however, and Morgyn's close proximity wasn't enough to alert her to someone else being nearby. Or maybe she did know and wanted the brunet to think she didn't. Sarnai _was_ intelligent, Morgyn had to give her credit for that, and the answer here could be either one.

Morgyn skirted around the side, keeping behind things. No one here knew magic realm better than Morgyn did. As Morgyn went, the brunet could feel the spirits in magic realm nearby, helping shield the sage from Sarnai. Maybe they'd be willing to continue helping.

After all, some of the spirits here loved Ezio as much as Morgyn did. He was a light to everyone, and always had been.

Caleb stayed just behind Morgyn. The sage eventually stopped, peeking around one of the columns. Sarnai was just beyond it, pacing around. She'd turn around and Morgyn would almost have a perfectly clear shot at her back.

Caleb reached over and took Morgyn's hand for a moment. Neither said anything, watching one another's eyes for a long moment, and then Morgyn took a breath in, pulled the sunlight potion off the belt, drew one arm back, and threw it.

Sarnai immediately turned around, throwing a psychic bolt at the bottle, shattering it before it reached her. And Morgyn grabbed Caleb's hand and pulled him the other way.

* * *

Unsurprisingly, the spirits in magic realm seemed to have figured out Cassandra was a necromancer. There were some shielding Morgyn, and some shielding Cassandra, too. Morgyn was glad for that, because Drake didn't always have the ability to do it himself, too busy working with Lilith to try and separate Sarnai from the All.

So far, they didn't seem to be having any luck with that whatsoever. Morgyn was almost disappointed by that reality, but figured that was to be expected. Sarnai was a difficult beast to down on her own, of course she was many times more difficult now that she'd evolved into her most powerful form.

(That was how video game bosses worked, right? Morgyn had picked this up listening to Simeon and Travis banter about _Genie's Curse_.)

Caleb was doing fairly well sticking to Morgyn. That meant the spirits were incidentally shielding him, too, and Morgyn was glad for that. If Morgyn came to save Ezio and lost Caleb in the process, the brunet had no idea what that would do as far as Morgyn's mental stability went. Probably nothing good.

"Sarnai," Lakshmi said, scurrying around behind the rocks, "this isn't the answer to anything."

"It is answer enough!" Sarnai answered. "The All has given us the power to stop this. We will save us. We will save ourselves!"

Morgyn was very interested in what exactly Sarnai was talking about. Then, Morgyn remembered Ezio saying that she felt like an angry spirit. Morgyn wondered if it was possible for a spirit to possess another person.

It wasn't like the semantics of this situation were going to help by this point. It was a bit late to be wondering about them.

Lakshmi hadn't thrown her potion, and neither had Cassandra. There were still two more, and given they knew for sure those worked, Morgyn was waiting for them to be used up before falling back on the UV bullets that might not do anything.

Lilith and Drake were taking most of the heat at the moment, but it made sense given they were their current two strongest fighters. Morgyn _hated_ feeling useless, but there wasn't anything for it. However, Sarnai was a little... questionable. Morgyn had to wonder if she'd _actually_ absorbed the All properly, because Morgyn's bond to it wasn't reacting with the same level of strength that the brunet would've expected it to.

Either she didn't get it all, or she'd absorbed something else, though offhand, Morgyn couldn't say what that might be.

They needed a plan here. Lilith and Drake weren't doing too badly, but they couldn't necessarily keep this up forever. There had to be a way to keep her from moving around, and with the All in her, or whatever it was she'd gotten, she could use magic and was transportalating all over the place. (It was almost annoying. She had magic, _and_ vampire powers. And they had nothing! How was that fair!)

Morgyn was thinking. They had to come up with something, and at the moment, maybe it was Morgyn's job to come up with something. And the brunet should also probably remember to leave some gifts for the spirits after this, because they were being kind enough to help.

Well, magic realm was their home, too. It was probably nothing really personal.

"The All will save us," Sarnai mumbled. "The All will save us yes..."

"The All isn't the answer to your problems," Lakshmi said. "We can come up with something else Sarnai, it doesn't have to be this way."

Sarnai straightened up, her nostrils flaring in apparent rage. "No one helps us," Sarnai said. "When we asked for help, the spell casters said we were on our own. They left us to burn, Laky! The All happens to be useful to us, and taking it away makes spell casters burn too. Turn about is fair play."

"It doesn't mean all spell casters are bad!" Lakshmi said. "Sarnai _I'm_ a spell caster."

"Yes," Sarnai said, snorting softly. "And you've been the biggest thorn in our side since we started on this. Neither did _you_ ever ask if we need help either. You can burn with them."

Lakshmi fell silent. Morgyn had to admit the brunet felt a little bad for her. That was almost cruel to say.

"You don't need Ezio," Morgyn said. "Give him back to me. You can have magic realm if you want it so bad."

Sarnai laughed. "How bold of you to assume he's even alive," she answered. "He broke the All's barrier. Didn't look so hot. We left him with the All's shell. Wherever that is."

Then where was _that_? "Where?" Morgyn asked.

"Don't think we're stupid," Sarnai replied. "The youngest sage is the most impetuous, and the twin is one of the strongest spell casters alive. As if we'd let you save him. You may say, you can have magic realm, but later, your mind will change, and you'll do just as humans always do."

Morgyn frowned, glancing up at Caleb. The brunet needed to figure out where Ezio was. The All's shell... that must've been the something stronger that was blocking Drake from sensing him. But that made no sense, because if Sarnai had control of the All, then what was blocking his signature?

Morgyn almost had a headache from all of this. Then, the brunet sensed one of the spirits nearby. Morgyn leaned over towards it. "Find him," Morgyn whispered. "Please."

Saving Ezio was the only thing Morgyn cared about in this situation. The sage had already accepted that magic realm may well burn for it, but it could be replaced, and, destroying magic realm around her may be a decent way of defeating Sarnai, as well.

But first, before they did anything of the sort, Morgyn wanted to find Ezio. And maybe figure out how the hell magic realm was still standing with the All incapacitated. But that just likely meant, didn't it, that the All wasn't incapacitated at all.

So then, the question remained of, why was magic down?

* * *

His head still hurt, but it was becoming easier to breathe, a little at a time. Ezio stayed where he was, lying on the stone at the base of the All, listening to the grinding sound that magic realm was unleashing around them. The star creature had yet to detach from him again, but it was just as well. Ezio didn't think he could make it without it.

The more he paid attention to what the star creature was doing, though, the more he thought it was doing magic. And given magic was currently shut off, it was very strange that the star creature would be able to do it. Even ghosts should be beholden to the rules of magic; without the All, there was no casting.

Or at least, the varying stories led Ezio to _believe_ that would be true. What he was seeing right in front of him seemed to indicate otherwise. Now why was that?

Ezio watched the sky, trying to think up what to do, in case Morgyn and the others never made it. But some part of him refused to think about what would happen if he was on his own. He didn't think he could manage by himself. There was a _ghost_ keeping him alive right now for fuck's sake, how the hell was he supposed to _fight_ like this?

Then again, maybe he was supposed to die.

As he lay there bemoaning life and debating in his head, he felt something shift. Vampire mist form... slowly, Ezio rolled over, scooting across the island until he reached the edge of it, and looked down at the main island.

Morgyn, Caleb, Lilith, Drake... they'd made it. Ezio breathed out a sigh of relief. That was a good thing, but now he needed to figure out how to help without getting in the way. It looked like they had some kind of a plan, and Ezio wasn't privy to it of course. He didn't want to mess it up, or turn out to just be in the way.

Ezio started to stand up, but found that it was still a little too difficult. After a moment or two, the star creature frantically mentally nudging him to stop that, he settled back down onto the stone. "How are you doing magic?" he asked.

The answer he got was unexpected. He saw flashes of images, natural things, waterfalls, the leaves swaying in the wind, the sunlight. Ezio wasn't sure what to make of that. No one drew their power from that, though he and Morgyn had translated a number of things that suggested once, they did.

But it wasn't like Ezio knew how to draw magic from natural things, even if it _was_ possible. So that still left him at square one. He was probably on the edge of dying, and he had no magic to speak of.

He still wondered if being dead would be more helpful about now.

"I can't draw magic from those," he said. "I feel about _useless_ right now."

The star creature let go of him, scooting across the stone and mentally nudging that he should follow. Ezio raised an eyebrow, but he sat up, crawling across the stone. The star creature led him back to the foot of the All.

Ezio looked up at it. Despite knowing it was dead now, Ezio could almost swear he sensed _something_ in there. The star creature reached over, touching his hand, and then touched the side of the crystal.

Ezio looked over at it in confusion. "The All's gone," Ezio said. "There's nothing left in there, there's no point in that. It's just a rock now."

The star creature gave him another mental nudge. That was what it thought he should do, apparently. Ezio wasn't sure how to take that. But he _had_ thought that he was sensing something in it, even if he didn't know what that was. Maybe Sarnai hadn't gotten all of whatever there was in it. Maybe he was supposed to bear the rest of it.

But then, he feared he couldn't. Breaking the damned thing's barrier was hard enough. If he was meant to fuse with even a small little piece of it, it could prove to be too much.

On the other hand, if it was either bear some of the All's weight and die, or just die, maybe the right choice here was obvious.

Ezio took a deep breath in, sitting up the rest of the way, pushing up onto his knees. The star creature moved slightly, hovering behind him, keeping him steady and stable even without binding to him like it had before. One hand raised, and Ezio gently laid it on the stone.

Words came into his head, words he knew came from the star creature. He breathed in again. "Help me protect magic realm," he said softly.

For a long moment, it seemed nothing had happened at all. Ezio almost dropped his hand from the stone, but then a sparkle of light shone in the crystal. Ezio tilted his head, watching it. Then, it grew brighter, and he felt _something_ go into his hand, absorbing into his skin and shooting through his arm.

Frost began to spread across his skin, but it didn't feel threatening. Ezio watched the patterns it made, as it became even easier to breathe and move. Ezio stood up, onto his feet, much easier than he'd anticipated.

And then, a sudden surge of power shot through him, crackles of magic and light igniting around him as he went into charge state.

* * *

Sarnai had quickly gotten the upper hand. Morgyn may not like that fact, but that fact was still indeed a fact. Lilith and Drake were barely holding it together, rapidly exchanging psychic bolts with her. The rest of them had to make sure not to get hit by stray ones.

Caleb was quite good at making sure those stray psychic bolts didn't hit Morgyn, moving into the way of them and blocking them with a barrier. At some point, Lakshmi had thrown her sunlight potion, but it'd hit one of the rocks instead of Sarnai.

Morgyn wasn't sure if they needed another plan or what, but it seemed to have turned out they were woefully unprepared for all of this. And truth be told, Morgyn had never felt so much _resentment_ for the fact the brunet was not a vampire hybrid, but it wasn't like Morgyn _wanted_ to be one until magic had died.

Potions still _worked_ , though, so it suggested there were other kinds of magic that still worked, the kinds that drew their power from the natural world, and not the All. The problem was, Morgyn knew very little of that kind of magic, and what Morgyn _did_ know of it, generally wasn't offensively leaned.

Inna loosed a loud screech of surprise, as she threw a psychic bolt, and then almost immediately had it thrown back at her, followed by a tendril of shadow. It threw her right off the island they were fighting on.

"Inna!" Elle squeaked, and she turned and jumped off the island after Inna. It was probably for the best, Morgyn didn't think magic realm would send her back up, and Elle was the one that could teleport.

Lilith's onslaught of attacks had sped up not long after Lakshmi's sunlight potion broke, and Drake was right behind her. Morgyn was more worried about finding Ezio but finding Ezio during this particular mess was unlikely to be easy.

The brunet breathed out, scurrying around the battlefield to Cassandra. Morgyn knelt down beside her. "You still have yours?" Morgyn asked.

Cassandra nodded.

"If yours fails, I'll fall back on the UV bullets," Morgyn said. "And good choice, stay back here."

"Do you know where the All's shell might be?" Cassandra asked.

"I asked the spirits to find out," Morgyn said. "Hopefully they have an answer soon, but I can't sense the damned thing anymore."

A loud crashing sound was heard, and Lilith squealed Caleb's name. Morgyn looked up, right at the tail end of Caleb going through a couple walls. He stayed down, and Morgyn cursed. They were losing fighters left and right and Morgyn was fresh out of genius ideas.

"We may need to run," Cassandra said. "She's too strong like this."

Morgyn drew a breath in. Cassandra was probably right. "No one's too strong," the sage said instead, and then scurried around the side towards Caleb.

Sarnai seemed to have noticed, throwing a burst of psychic energy at the brunet. Drake interrupted, blocking it and snarling in annoyance. Lilith went around behind her, intending for a sneak attack, but Sarnai's hand caught her around the throat.

"We thought you more honourable than that," Sarnai said.

"If it gets you downed, I'll do a few unsavoury things," Lilith answered.

Sarnai looked annoyed, a slight flash of light going off against Lilith's throat, and then Sarnai threw her over there by Caleb. That left just Drake. They were quickly being overpowered. Retreat seemed inevitable, but with their transportation means mostly knocked out, they may not be able to do so with any kind of ease.

"Why are you still fighting?" Sarnai asked. "There's nothing left to fight for. We have your All, your magic realm, even killed your Ezio, probably."

Morgyn frowned.

"You wouldn't understand," Drake said, throwing a string of psychic attacks.

Sarnai smirked, unleashing something Morgyn didn't quite see, and Drake flew backward into the tree Cassandra was hiding behind and fell unconscious. And then there were none.

Morgyn moved around, pulling the gun back off the brunet's hip, but before Morgyn could even start aiming, ice suddenly shot across the ground, snaking up the rocks and the trees, consuming the columns. The ice moved together into a wave, then formed into spikes. Sarnai barely moved out of the way in time, the spikes catching the side of her arm and mixing with her blood.

Sarnai looked annoyed, turning towards where it all seemed to be coming from. Ezio stood there, emitting the light and colours of charge state. Morgyn had no _idea_ how he'd managed to go into charge state in the first place and do magic, but whatever, the brunet wasn't going to complain.

"Pin her in one place, Ezio!" Morgyn called.

Morgyn wondered if he'd heard it, but the ice shifted under her and started to root her against the stone. She loosed an annoyed screech and fired a bolt of psychic energy at Morgyn, yanking her ankles loose of the ice and disappearing. A wall of ice raised between it and Morgyn, blocking the attack, and then went back down, and Ezio disappeared too.

Morgyn could barely keep up with their exchanges. Ezio was a lot stronger in charge state, and the two traded blows quite consistently. Sarnai would get a hit, then Ezio, then Sarnai... Morgyn was worried he couldn't stay fighting in charge state for very long, but he was strong enough for now, seemingly stronger than she'd expected, that she was having a very hard time fighting him off.

One of her arms and a leg ended up coated in Ezio's ice, and more than once he'd fired magic off right in her face, and it was only by sheer luck that she moved fast enough to dodge it.

And just when Morgyn thought he'd win, Sarnai began to charge an electrical attack. Ezio couldn't stand being hit by those, "Ezio move!" Morgyn shrieked, in a panic.

But she didn't aim at Ezio. The lightning bolt went for Morgyn. Morgyn immediately fell to the ground, bracing for it, but instead of it hitting Morgyn, Ezio dove in between the bolt and Morgyn.

The screaming was unbelievably loud. Morgyn wasn't surprised. It felt like it lasted forever, Ezio standing there screaming uncontrollably as the electricity went everywhere, why did he take the bolt? There was no way he could handle being hit by an electric current in the state he was in.

Sarnai, distracted by the light and Ezio's screaming, held still long enough. Cassandra threw her own potion at her. Sarnai looked up, and tried to mist port one second too late; the potion hit her arm, and she loosed a loud screech and burst into ashes.

Morgyn was crying before Ezio was even down, and when he fell, reached out to catch him. They both hit the stone.

The magic charge faded. "No, you idiot," Morgyn spluttered, "why'd you do that, you idiot, idiot."

Morgyn knew why Ezio had done that.

Ezio smiled, closing his eyes. Cassandra scurried over to them, took one look at Ezio, and then scurried back across the space, over to Drake.

Morgyn pulled Ezio into the brunet's lap. As they sat there together, Morgyn could feel it come back. Magic came back. Without thinking about it too hard, Morgyn immediately got a better grip on Ezio and activated transportalate. Maybe only Troi could help him right now.

But the barrier refused to let them out of magic realm, and the two fell right back down. Morgyn unleashed a frustrated sound.

"It's okay," Ezio said. "Morgyn, this is just fine."

"No it's not," Morgyn answered. "Why is it fighting me!"

Ezio's breathing spluttered, and he reached over and took one of Morgyn's hands. "It's _okay_ ," he repeated. "I'm okay with this. Sometimes things change."

Morgyn went still for a moment, and then the brunet's head shook. "No," Morgyn said. "No, not this, not you, you have to stay, I can't deal with this, I can't save you just to lose you."

The sage half leaned over Ezio, and tried to transportalate again. The barrier still threw them back down. "STOP FIGHTING ME!" Morgyn shrieked.

"Morgyn, listen to me," Ezio said, his voice fainter as the seconds went by. "You're a stronger person than you think, and you can make it past this moment. I love you-"

"No," Morgyn interrupted. "Don't you dare, don't give up on me, not like this-"

"Hey," Ezio whispered, reaching up and resting his forehead against Morgyn's, "everything's gonna be okay. Even when I am gone, I will never really leave you, Morgyn."

"Damn you," Morgyn said, "you can't do this to me. Ezio please, don't leave me."

Ezio smiled, and then went limp, and Morgyn loosed a strangled cry, pulling him closer, and trying in an endless string to teleport. The barrier still stopped it. Nothing goes in, nothing goes out. Morgyn curled over him, the tears flowing freely, so much so it felt like the brunet couldn't breathe.

Then Drake came up behind them, wrapped his arms around them both, and wordlessly mist ported right around the barrier.

  



End file.
